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ESL forum >
Ask for help > tag
tag
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tommy1996
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tag
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Help me with the correct tag question for this sentence, please! Rhanks 1. T They must do as they are told, ________________? |
23 May 2019
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yanogator
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They must do as they are told, mustn�t they? With modal verbs, you repeat the modal in the tag. Bruce
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23 May 2019
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spied-d-aignel
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Hi just a little more question with the meaning ,what tag would you suggest for Teachers mustn�t smoke inside the school, ---------------------------? Have a great day! Sylvie |
23 May 2019
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cunliffe
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Hi Sylvie. So, in theory it�s �must they?� In practice, that sounds too much like a command, not a question. What would be said is: Teachers can�t smoke in school, can they?/ Teachers aren�t allowed to smoke in school, are they? |
24 May 2019
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yanogator
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To expand on what Lynne said, I don�t think we ever use a tag with "mustn�t" in the main sentence. We would substitute something else, such as "Teachers mustn�t smoke inside the school, right?" Bruce |
24 May 2019
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spied-d-aignel
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Thanks guys for your interesting explanations!:)
Have a nice weekend!
Sylvie |
24 May 2019
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gabriella1968
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In the first sentence the correct answer is "needn�t":
They must do as they are told, needn�t they?
Although in tag questions, the original auxiliary is repeated, you must be careful with MODAL auxiliaries as when they are used their meaning is also important. In the sentence above �must� means OBLIGATION and when you add the question tag, you should consider what the opposite of obligation is. Think it over: how would you say the opposite of this sentence: "I must go to the toilet." Its opposite is: I needn�t go to the toilet (or: I don�t have to go to the toilet). For this same reason, the question tag of your second sentence is "can":
Teachers mustn�t smoke inside the school, can they?
(mustn�t: prohibition; can: permission)
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25 May 2019
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redcamarocruiser
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Gabriella, could you provide the source for your information? |
25 May 2019
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gabriella1968
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Well, it�s difficult to provide the source of my information. I studied from several coursebooks like "A Student�s Grammar of The English Language" by Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk; "Advanced Language Practice" by Michael Vince; Living English Structure by W. Stannard Allen. And of course I profited from what my university lecturers taught me. But I can�t tell you what was THE book that told about it.
Still, I know there are other explanations (i.e. that you should always use the same auxiliary in the tag).
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26 May 2019
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yanogator
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As a native speaker, I would never use "needn�t" or "can" in those sentences. Bruce |
27 May 2019
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