'OK with these aren't you?' looks at tag questions.
For a language that 'carries agreements' right through a sentence in far less detail than many others (at least in Europe), English has quite a funny little habit in how it forms Tag Questions:
'He's not going to do that again, is he?'
(The 'he' agreement carried right from front to back of the question, and the repeat turned from negative to affirmative)
How reliable are you at forming such questions accurately? You can't just hide behind an all-purpose 'tag' as in some other languages (German: 'nicht wahr?'; French: 'n'est-ce pas?', etc.) ... can you?
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Answer 3 is just about possible (and certainly understandable), but not as direct an echo as in Answer 4.
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'It is ... isn't it?'
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'They do, ... do they?' ( ~ or indeed, ' ... don't they?' ; but that option was not offered here)
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'You have ... haven't you?' is a possible echo, but the general form in Answer 3 is far more likely in this context.
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The form in Answer 2 assumes that the bins have indeed been put out; had the speaker said '... have you?', this will obtain the same information but it sounds like a stronger challenge (i.e. rather assuming that the chore has NOT definitely yet been done, after all).
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'I shall ... , shan't I (or: won't I)?' are the only tags that work properly here.
The version at Answer 3 is just about possible in certain non-central dialects, but probably not really a good model. |
'He does ... , doesn't he?' : 'does' is the all-purpose 'tag auxiliary', as you've probably realised.
You might hear such a dialogue as: 'Young Simon looks so like his father used to at that age.' 'Now you mention it ~ yes, he does, rather, doesn't he?' |
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Answer 4 is right: we need the negative tag for the (elided) 'feed' : 'It has ... , hasn't it?'
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'There are ... , aren't there?'
(In this case the question is embedded, almost just to check that the listener is following and accepts the circumstances, before the speaker carries straight on into the next consequential stage.) |
But it's more likely that the speaker is checking when 'she' will arrive, so the tag in Answer 2 is better.