A: Where did you go?
B: To Yosemite. Do you know where it is?
A: What’s your address?
B: It’s 123 Miller Street.
A: What’s the name of the street?
B: Miller Street. It’s spelled M-I-L-L-E-R.
Tag questions begin with a statement, followed by a short
question form at the end, like these:
Our test is today, isn’t it?
You’ve !nished your homework, haven’t you?
It’s not raining now, is it?
Questions like these can be spoken with two di"erent kinds
of intonation, with two di"erent kinds of meaning. In both
cases, the intonation on the !rst part goes down, like a
statement. However, the last part varies. Sometimes the
speaker really wants information and doesn’t know what the
answer will be. In this case, the !nal intonation goes up:
We’re having a quiz today, aren’t we?
I really don’t remember, and I want to find out.You’ve !nished your homework, haven’t you?
I don’t know if you’ve finished or not.It’s not raining now, is it?
I’m indoors and can’t see out the window, so I don’t know.In other cases, the speaker already knows the answer or
assumes that the listener agrees. The speaker isn’t really
asking for information; he/she is just making conversation or
trying to get the listener to express agreement. In this case,
the !nal intonation goes down.We’re having a quiz today, aren’t we?
I know we’re having a quiz; I just want to talk about it.You’ve !nished your homework, haven’t you?
I know you’ve finished; you always finish it.It’s not raining now, is it?
I can see that the rain has stopped. I just need something to say.139