Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Fixed tags in informal speech 

98e

Some tags in informal spoken language do not vary in form. They include items

such as (all) right, okay, yeah, eh, don’t you think?. They are normally used to

check that something has been understood or to confirm that an action is agreed:

So we’re meeting at 7 outside the pizza place, 

okay?

Let’s stop talking in circles, 

right?

Don’t tell anyone about this, 

yeah?

Oh well, what on earth can we do about it, 

eh?

✪

No

is not normally used in this way:

He’s a really nice person, isn’t he? 

(He’s a really nice person, no?)

A–Z

69 Right, rightly

198 | From utterance to discourse

Cambridge Grammar of English

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