The Question
Q32(A) gives two items of one mark each, and in 2025 they were:
| Item | Direction |
|---|---|
| i | Add a suitable question tag |
| ii | Frame a 'wh' question to get the underlined word as the answer |
The alternative, Q32(B), is error correction (chapter 21). You attempt one of the two.
What a question tag is. A short question added to a statement to ask for agreement.
Students should not waste their time, should they? Water knows everything, doesn't it?
What a wh-question is. A question that asks for one piece of information, using who, what, when, where, why, which, whose or how.
Childhood is the most enjoyable phase. → What is the most enjoyable phase in a person's life?
[Exam Tip] — Both items are one mark and take less than a minute each, but only if the rules are automatic. Learn the tag table below by heart; there is nothing to work out in the exam.
Question Tags: The Four Rules
Rule 1: Reverse the polarity. A positive statement takes a negative tag; a negative statement takes a positive tag.
- Water knows everything, doesn't it?
- Students should not waste their time, should they?
Rule 2: Repeat the auxiliary. If the statement has an auxiliary or a modal (is, are, was, were, have, has, had, will, would, can, could, shall, should, must, may, might), use the same word in the tag.
- She is cycling to work, isn't she?
- They had sworn on the iyi, hadn't they?
Rule 3: If there is no auxiliary, use do / does / did. Take the tense and number from the main verb.
- Water knows everything, doesn't it? (present, singular)
- The women rode gents' cycles, didn't they? (past)
- The elders demand more money, don't they? (present, plural)
Rule 4: The tag subject is always a pronoun. Replace the noun with he, she, it, they, we, you.
- Marcus Ibe won the election, didn't he?
- Cycling changed their lives, didn't it?
- This is your cycle, isn't it? (this / that → it; these / those → they)
Form: the negative tag is always contracted (isn't, doesn't, didn't, won't, can't, shouldn't), and the tag ends with a question mark.
Question Tags: The Special Cases
| Statement | Tag | Note |
|---|---|---|
| I am late, | aren't I? | never amn't I |
| Let's begin, | shall we? | for let us suggestions |
| Open the door, | will you? | for imperatives (won't you? is also accepted) |
| Don't be late, | will you? | negative imperative |
| There is no water, | is there? | keep there as the subject |
| There were five elders, | weren't there? | |
| Nobody came to help, | did they? | nobody, no one, none, neither are negatives, so the tag is positive with they |
| Everybody enjoyed the rally, | didn't they? | everybody, somebody, anybody → they |
| Nothing was denied to them, | was it? | nothing, everything → it |
| He has a cycle, | doesn't he? | have as a main verb takes do / does / did |
| He has bought a cycle, | hasn't he? | have as an auxiliary is repeated |
| She hardly ever rests, | does she? | hardly, scarcely, rarely, seldom, never, few, little count as negatives |
| They used to walk miles, | didn't they? | used to takes did |
| You needn't wait, | need you? | |
| Everyone must vote, | mustn't they? | |
| I think she will come, | won't she? | the tag follows the second clause, not I think |
[Exam Tip] — The three the board likes most are a modal with "not" (should they?), a present-tense verb with no auxiliary (doesn't it?) and a negative word like nobody or hardly (did they?). Learn those three patterns first.
Wh-Questions
You are given a statement with one word or phrase underlined in the question paper. (In the examples below that part is shown in bold.) Frame a question whose answer is exactly that part.
Step 1: Choose the wh-word.
| The underlined word is… | Use |
|---|---|
| a person as subject | who |
| a person as object | whom (or who in everyday use) |
| a possessor | whose |
| a thing, an idea or an activity | what |
| one from a known set | which |
| a time | when |
| a place | where |
| a reason | why |
| a manner | how |
| a number | how many |
| a quantity or price | how much |
| a duration | how long |
| a frequency | how often |
| a distance | how far |
Step 2: Build the question.
- Put the wh-word first, in place of the underlined part.
- Bring the auxiliary or modal before the subject: Childhood is the phase → What is the phase?
- If there is no auxiliary, add do / does / did and put the main verb in the base form: She hires a cycle → What does she hire?
- Keep the rest of the sentence unchanged, and end with a question mark.
When the underlined word is the subject, no auxiliary is needed and the word order does not change.
- Roof tore the ballot paper. → Who tore the ballot paper?
- Water knows everything. → What knows everything?
When the underlined word is not the subject, the auxiliary moves.
- Roof tore the ballot paper. → What did Roof tear?
- She hires a cycle every evening. → When does she hire a cycle?
- They walked miles to the canal. → How far did they walk to the canal?
The 2025 Items, Solved, and Common Mistakes
Item (i)
Students should not waste their time during exams, __? (Add a suitable question tag) Answer: should they? Should not is negative, so the tag is positive; the modal should is repeated; students becomes they.
Item (ii)
Childhood is the most enjoyable phase in a person's life. [Frame a 'wh' question to get the underlined word as the answer] The underlined word is Childhood, the subject and a thing, so the wh-word is what. Answer: What is the most enjoyable phase in a person's life?
(In the printed paper the word to be questioned is underlined. Always check which part is underlined: if "the most enjoyable phase" were underlined instead, the answer would be "What is childhood?")
Common mistakes
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Students should not waste their time, shouldn't they? | … should they? | A negative statement takes a positive tag. |
| Water knows everything, isn't it? | … doesn't it? | There is no be in the statement; use does. |
| Marcus won the election, didn't Marcus? | … didn't he? | The tag subject must be a pronoun. |
| I am right, amn't I? | I am right, aren't I? | Fixed form. |
| Nobody helped her, didn't they? | Nobody helped her, did they? | Nobody is already negative. |
| What did Roof tore? | What did Roof tear? | After did, use the base form. |
| Who did tear the ballot paper? | Who tore the ballot paper? | No auxiliary is added when the wh-word is the subject. |
| When she hires a cycle? | When does she hire a cycle? | The auxiliary must come before the subject. |
| What is the most enjoyable phase in a person's life. | … life? | A question needs a question mark. |
[Exam Tip] — Write the whole sentence with the tag, or the whole question. A tag written alone, or a question without its final question mark, can lose the mark.