FEATURES OF THE MAIN TYPES OF TAG
There are two main types of declarative mood tag, distinguished by polarity sequence. Type 1 tag has opposite polarity to that of the main clause. That is, if the main clause is positive, the tag is negative, and vice versa, as in the examples so far.
There is either rising or falling intonation on the tag. A rising tone on the tag indicates doubt, and so the meaning is ‘Am I right?’ If however the intonation is falling, it expresses greater certainty, so that the meaning of the tag is more like ‘I’m asking you to confirm this’ and simply seeks agreement.
The Type 2 tag has constant polarity, that is, the same as the main clause. It occurs mostly in combinations of positive declarative clauses with positive tags. Type 2 tags typically have a rising tone on the tag, and the statement is often preceded by a discoursemarker, such as Oh, So or Well now, which indicates that the speaker is expressing a conclusion or inference drawn from the situation or from what has been said before. The effect is often emotive and can either express an agreeable surprise or else sound pejorative, depending on the implication.
Oh, so you’re the new assistant, are you?
Oh so that’s what she said, is it?
Well now, this is the Norman chapel, is it?
You found the address, did you?
A third type of tag is the copy tag, introduced as He does? It is declarative in form and is used with rising intonation as a response showing interest or involvement, mainly in AmE:
A (driver leans out of his window addressing the driver of another car) I think I’ve lost my way.
B You do? / You have?
BrE would prefer Have you?
James Saunders’ parody of a doctor in Over the Wall contains a number of positive tags:
Falling hair, loss of weight, gain of weight, tenseness, got a drink problem have you, smoking too much, hallucinations, palpitations, eructations, on drugs are you, can you read the top line, overdoing it at work perhaps, worrying about the work, about the spouse, about where to go for your holiday, about the mortgage, about the value of the pound, about the political situation, about your old mother, about the kids, kids playing up are they, not doing well at school, got a drink problem have they, smoking, on drugs are they, suffering from loss of weight, falling hair, got any worries have you? Yes!
In both types of question tag, the pronoun in the tag is co-referential with the subject; the operator, not the pronoun, carries the tonic stress.
There is a third, very useful, common variant, heard mainly in women’s speech, illustrated by the following example:
Ooh! I love squirrels, don’t you? [KBW]
Here the pronouns are not co-referential. The sentence subject is invariably I and that of the tag, you. It is you, not the operator, that carries the tonic stress, marking a contrast with the 1st person, the speaker. The tag invites the addressee to agree or disagree with the speaker’s opinion.
When a clausal fragment such as I think or I suppose introduces an embedded clause that encodes the main propositional content of the sentence, the tag refers to the embedded clause, not to the clausal fragment. The stance expression can be placed parenthetically:
I think he left before lunch, didn’t he? (not *don’t I?)
(He left, I think, before lunch, didn’t he?)
Indefinite human singular pronouns take they in the tag:
Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, didn’t they?
Nobody will agree to that, will they?
Somebody should be told, shouldn’t they?
The discourse function of tags following declaratives is to seek confirmation or agreement with the previous statement and to keep the conversation going. Tags are questions and so require an answer. They enable the speaker to elicit a response from the hearer, where a tagless declarative or imperative would not necessarily achieve this end. Together with abbreviated clauses and fragments as short responses, tags provide the main structural-functional devices for furthering speaker-hearer involvement.
With certain speech act functions, such as good wishes and warnings, a question tag is not used. Instead, other forms such as the following are used, in which the adverbs do not have their normal ideational value:
See you later, then! Have a good journey, then!
That plate is hot, mind Look out, there! Come on, now!
