Interrogative tags

The canonical structure of tag questions in contemporary British English is shown in these RTG examples.

(1)  That's just wrong though isn't it? (2020)

(2)  we all support the same team don't we? (2019)

(3)  people will be offended on his behalf though won't they (2018)

(4)  It's not rocket science is it? (2014)

(5)  But we don't exactly have the power to put it right, do we?

(6)  McGeady won't be fit will he? (2019)

Negative tags are added to positive statements, seeking confirmation for a positive proposition (examples 1,2 and 3); positive tags are added to negative statements, signalling that the speaker is seeking confirmation for a negative proposition (examples 4, 5 and 6). Furthermore, negative tags are always contracted.

While in NEE the patterns above are widespread, different structures are also possible. However, as Beal et al. (2012: 63) note, given 'the very specific pragmatic contexts required' for some of these possibilities, they generally occur at low frequencies in corpus data. The examples below are from Beal 1993: 202-203.

A. Seeking information: negative clause followed by auxiliary + subject + not

She can't come, can she not?

B. Seeking information: positive clause followed by auxiliary + subject + not

She can come, can she not?

C. Seeking confirmation of the negative: negative clause followed by auxiliary + n't + subject + not

She can't come, can't she not?

D. Seeking confirmation of the positive: positive clause followed by auxiliary + n't + subject

She can come, can't she?

Patterns A, B and C are not usually found in SE. Patterns A and C are not as common in NEE as B (RTG examples 7, 8 and 9).

(7)  It's better to be around 200 people than 210 people is it not? (2020)

(8)  Gave the ball away in the build up to their goal did he not?(2019)

(9)  They'll be franchises, will they not? (2019)

Similar patterns can be found in Scots and Scottish English.

References

Beal, Joan. 1993. The Grammar of Tyneside and Northumbrian English. In Real English: The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles, edited by James Milroy and Lesley Milroy, 187-213. Harlow: Longman.

Beal, Joan, Lourdes Burbano-Elizondo and Carmen Llamas. 2012. Urban North-Eastern English: Tyneside to Teesside. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.