TAG QUESTIONS

En inglés es frecuente terminar las frases con otra frase corta, de signo contrario, la cual tiene la intención de pedir la opinión o buscar la aprobación del interlocutor: son las llamadas question tags (preguntas coletillas). Estas frases equivalen a: ¿verdad?, ¿no es verdad?, ¿no?, ¿no es así? ¿en serio?

TRES REGLAS BASICAS QUE DEBES RECORDAR
1.
Los tag questions utilizan siempre los verbos auxiliares.
2.
Con oraciones afirmativas utilizamos un tag question en NEGATIVO.
3.
Con oraciones negativas utilizamos un tag question en AFIRMATIVO o POSITIVO.



Ejemplos:
You eat meat, don’t you? (Comes carne, ¿verdad?)


She doesn’t like to dance, does she? (No le gusta bailar, ¿no?)


Alex and Sergio are friends, aren’t they? (Alex y Sergio son amigos, ¿no?)
Grammatical Rules 
Para formar esta pregunta corta utilizaremos el auxiliar de la frase principal y su sujeto pero de signo contrario. Si no tuviera auxiliar entonces utilizaríamos el auxiliar “to do”.
Si la oración es afirmativa, la pregunta coletilla es negativa y viceversa.
Ejemplos:
Oraciones afirmativas

Your brother is older than you, isn’t he? (Tu hermano es mayor que tú, ¿no es así?)


You can help me, can’t you? (Puedes ayudarme, ¿verdad?)


John is getting married, isn’t he? (John se casará, ¿verdad?)


You worked yesterday, didn’t you? (Trabajaste ayer, ¿no?)


Sarah likes ice cream, doesn’t she?(A Sarah le gusta el helado, ¿no?)
Oraciones negativas

You’re not from here, are you? (No eres de aquí, ¿no?)


Kate’s not American, is she? (Kate no es americana, ¿verdad?)


Peter never liked Susan, did he? (A Peter nunca le gustó Susan, ¿verdad?)


They didn’t go to class yesterday, did they? (No fueron a la clase ayer, ¿verdad?)


You can’t dance, can you? (No puedes bailar, ¿no?)

Nota: Ten cuidado con los verbos “to have” y “to have got”.
Ejemplos:
To have got:
They’ve got a dog, haven’t they?(Tienen un perro, ¿no?)
To have:
They have a dog, don’t they?(Tienen un perro, ¿no?)

EJERCICIO: Escribe el complemento de cada tag questions.
1.    David plays tennis, ____? Principio del formulario
2.    You can't swim, ____? 
3.    She has got 2 brothers, ____? 
4.    Megan is married, ____? 
5.    Kate doesn't teach Spanish, ____? 
6.    They aren't here, ____? 
7.    You didn't lose your book, ____? 
8.    We can come along, ____? 
9.    They have 3 children, ____? 
1 .     He isn't your boss, ____? 
1.     You speak English, ____? 
1.     You are smart,________?

Comentarios

Publicar un comentario

Entradas populares de este blog

GRAMMAR: infinitive clauses with impersonal it

Function:     we use it's (not) + adjective + infinitive clause when we want to use the adjective to describe an action or situation. This means the same as using yhe gerund as a subject. it'simportant to eat properly.=Eating properly is important. IMPERSONAL IT “IT” is used to replace a clause or phrase at the the beginning of a sentences : >When an INFINITIVE is a subject of a sentence, we usually begin the sentence with “it” and put infinitive later. For examples: It is easy to criticize.  =  To criticize is easy. It is better to be early. = To be early is better. >When a GERUND as a subject of a sentence, we usually begin the sentence with “it” and put gerund later. For examples: It is easy talking. = Talking is easy. It is difficult answering your questions. = Answering your questions is difficult. >”iT” can be used similarly when the subject of a sentence is a clause.  It would be possible to say: That he has not r...
Leer más

REPEATED AND DOUBLE COMPARATIVES

Imagen
1. Repeated comparatives  1.1 INCREASING To indicate that something is increasing we can apply two structures: er and er / more and more. a)  …….er and …….er To form this structure we have to add “er” to the adjective to form a comparative adjective. It is used with adjectives and short adverbs; such as, closer and closer, longer and longer. Examples: She is getting clos er   and  clos er  of her mother. By the end of the twentieth century, couples were waiting long er and  long er  to marry. b)  more and more We can use this structure with long adjectives or adverbs ; for example, more and more difficult, more and more slowly. Examples: It’s becoming  more and more  difficult. He is going  more and more  slowly. 1.2 DECREASING In order to indicate that something is decreasing we can use the following structures: fewer and fewer, less and less. a)   Fewer and fewer It is used with...
Leer más

VERBS WITH STATIVE AND DYNAMIC USES

Imagen
Stative verbs and dynamic verbs Stative verbs Stative verbs have undefined duration. they denote states rather than actions. Examples of statives are: want, know, have (when it means possession), think (when it means opinion), like, love, hate, need, prefer, agree, sound, hear disagree, wish, look (when it mean seem), smell, seem, include... You cannot say: I am knowing the truth. I am liking pizza. It is sounding like a great idea. But you must say: I know the truth. I like pizza. It sounds like a great idea. Dynamic verbs As opposed to a stative verb, a dynamic (or action) verb shows continued or progressive action on the part of the subject. Examples of dynamic verbs (dynamic verbs) are: act, build, complete, design, develop, draw, fix, gather, handle, head, help, improve, interview, introduce, justify, listen, lead, measure, narrate, negotiate, orchestrate, originate, outline, perform, persuade, predict, regulate, record, save, show, study, targe...
Leer más