Question Tags; Legal Counseling

1. Question Tags and Answers:
Their usage in Legal Counseling

2. What are question tags?
• They are short questions appended at the end
of a sentence. Generally, the sentence is
either
i. a statement, or
ii. a request.

3. What are question tags?
Eg. 1. India is a great country, isn’t it?
[Statement]
Eg. 2. Please shut the door, will you?
[Request]
In example 1, ‘India is a great country’ is a
statement—a declarative sentence.
In Example 2, ‘Please shut the door’ is a request.
Both are followed by question tags.

4. Why do we need question tags
• Question tags are used to continue
conversation between two persons.
• Specifically, in case of counseling and
guidance, the technique is very useful.

5. Question Tags: Types
Function-Based Type
Tone-based
Type
Statements
Requests Falling
Tone
Rising
Tone
Question Tags

6. Let us discuss the
Tone-based Types first

7. Falling Tone
Falling tone indicates confidence and surety.
When we ask questions in falling tone, we
indicate:
 That we already know the answer.
 That the answer is either ‘yes’, or ‘no’.
 That we just expect the listener to agree with
us, and nothing else.

8. Question with Falling Tone
Example:
‘India is a great country, isn’t it?’
‘So you do not like English, do you?’
In both the sentences, the speaker knows the
answer. YES, India is a great country.
No, you don’t like English.

9. 2. Question tag with a rising tone:
When we genuinely ask questions with the
expectation of getting answers, we use rising
tone in the end.
Eg.: He has not yet reached office, has he?
She has broken up with him, hasn’t she?
When the speaker is unsure of a news, and tries
to confirm it from others, the question tag is
in rising tone.

10. Using question tags [Falling tone] in
counseling
1. When we need to start a conversation with a
shy person, asking self-evident questions
help. By self-evident questions, we mean,
question tags with falling tone, that does not
expect an answer.
Eg.: How was your journey? The traffic was
horrible, wasn’t it?
Asking about weather; traffic; health, etc are
done to make a shy person comfortable.

11. Using question tags [Falling tone] in
counseling
2. When we are trying to guess the unstated
facts said by our conversation partner.
Eg.: Woman: I begged my husband to let me
stay, but.. [breaks down in tears]
Counselor: But..he threw you out of the house
anyways, wasn’t it?

12. Using tag questions [Rising tone] in
counseling
2. When we are looking for further information
on a topic from the client, we use question
tags with rising tone.
Eg.: Woman: My husband has thrown me out of
our house, and I have no where to go.
Officer: But your parents live in the nearby city,
isn’t it? [The officer here expects an answer
about why the woman cannot go to her
parents].

13. Using Tag questions [Rising tone] in
counseling
3. When we are making requests to the client—who is
present in your office, to do something.
Eg.: Fill up the form, will you?
Let us proceed, shall we?
4. There are certain facts which we assume the client
must know from beforehand, like bringing relevant
documents. We ask tag questions to become sure of
that.
Eg.: You have brought all your documents, I suppose?

14. Rules of Tag formation#1
Positive Statement has a negative question.
Eg.: He is a army-man, isn’t he? [Is becomes Isn’t]
Negative statement has a positive question tag.
Eg.: The movie hasn’t started, has it?
[Has becomes Hasn’t]

15. Rules of tag formation#2
• The question tag will mirror the main
statement by having:
 the same Subject
 The same auxiliary verb.

16. Rules of tag formation#2
Let’s see how.
Kohli is a great captain, isn’t he?
Here subject = Kohli. Pronoun = He
So the question tag will be: Isn’t he [Kohli]?
So,
Tag has the same subject as the main sentence.

17. Rules of tag formation#2
Let’s see how.
Kohli is a great captain, isn’t he?
So,
The tag has the same Auxiliary verb, (though in
negative form).
Another example.
Kolhi has married Anouska, hasn’t he?

18. Rules of Tag formation #3
• The tag question will follow tense of the main
sentence.
So,
Have haven’t We have got money, haven’t we?
Didn’t did Hardik didn’t play, did he?
Is Isn’t This is the picture, isn’t it?
Were weren’t The children were alone,
weren’t they?
Would wouldn’t The Chinese would lose, wouldn’t they?
Could couldn’t You could stay with your parents,
couldn’t you?

19. Rule #4: Insert ‘do’ when there is no
auxiliary in the main sentence
• Teachers bore students.--Teachers [do] bore
students.
Ans: Teachers bore students, don’t they?
• Salman dated Katrina. -Salman [do+past=did]
dated Katrina.
Ans: Salman dated Katrina, didn’t he?
• Ranveer dances well.-Ranveer [do + singular = does]
dances well.
Ans: Ranveer dances well, doesn’t he?

20. Rule #4 : Special case of ‘I am’
• I am gets the question tag ‘Aren’t I?’
So, I am a citizen, aren’t I?
Note:
Be careful. Do not write ‘ain’t I?’ This is informal.

21. Rule #5: Request sentences
In case of requests, we ‘import’ auxiliaries for question
tags. The two question tags available are: Will you
and shall we.
1. When the request is made only to the hearer, the tag
used is Will you.
Eg.: (You) Close the door, will you?
2. When the request includes both the speaker and the
hearer, the tag used in Shall we.
Let us [YOU AND ME] have dinner, shall we?
So (You) becomes Will you?
Us becomes Shall we?

22. Rule 6: When we are checking
listener’s knowledge of basic things
We use, ‘of course?’, ‘I suppose?’
Eg.: You have brought your Aadhar card, I
suppose?
You have mentioned this in the FIR, I suppose?
As we can see, the normal rule of have—haven’t
is not applied here. Only the two fixed words
are used.

23. Short answers
Beside question tags, short answers are also
necessary to continue conversations.
We specifically use short answers during:
1. Permission.
2. Possibility
3. Obligation

24. Permissions: May, Can
• Two modals for permission: May and Can.
May I come in?
---Yes, you may.
Can I leave for home early?
---Yes, you can.

25. Possibilities: Can, could
• He is late. Can he have missed the bus?
---He may have. [Can = May]
• He is not picking up the phone. Could he be in
traffic?
• --He might be. [Could = Might]
Present Tense
Past tense

26. Obligations: Must, Have to
• Must I study sociology for law?
--Yes, you must.
• Do I have to maintain 90% attendance?
--Yes, you do. [Alternatively, ‘Yes, you must’]