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

NEGATION AND TAGS

436

Question tags which follow a negative main clause are affirmative:

You’re not on the same course as me, are you?

(You’re not on the same course as me, aren’t you?)

He mustn’t do that, must he?

They didn’t like Manchester, did they?

It’s not too late to pop over, is it?

Question tags which follow an affirmative main clause may be negative or

affirmative, depending on whether the speaker thinks the answer is probably yes

(affirmative + negative) or whether the speaker makes no assumption about

whether the answer is yes or no (affirmative + affirmative). The intonation of a

negative tag, whether rising or falling, also affects interpretation (

Û

431

):

They just 

gave the whole class a warning, didn’t they?

He 

has a house in Wales, doesn’t he?

She

’s a colleague of yours, is she?

You 

got here early, did you?

Negative statement tags and negative tails (

Û

97b

) may follow a negative

declarative main clause in informal spoken language:

I

’m not at all hungry, I’m not.

He

’s just not the right person for the job, Joe isn’t.