I’m curious as to why “okay” is often used at the end of a sentence when a person is trying to comfort others?
Eg. We’re gonna … , okay?
Why is this usage of “okay” often used at the end of sentences and in particular as part of a question in order to comfort others?
No special reason.
The speaker is just checking that the other person has listened, understood and agrees with what is proposed. By asking if the person is "okay" with what you have suggested you increase your interaction with them, encourage them to respond and talk to you, and that is more comforting.
So saying "We're gonna take you to the hospital, okay?" Checks that the upset person knows what is going to happen to them.
It's not only used when a person is upset. A teacher might say "Do exercise 5E, okay?" to check if a pupil is listening, understands what to do and will do it.
It's not some special rule of English.
In British English 'Question tags' is very common. But in American English the tags right and OK are used.
A question tag is the short question that is placed at the end of a statement. We use a question tag to ask if something is true, or to ask somebody to agree with us. It is usually used in speech. We don't use one tag all the time.
Question tags- aren't we? will you? shall we? isn't it? was he? etc.
We are going there, aren't we? (American English- We are going there, right?)
Let's play cricket, shall we? (American English- Let's play cricket, OK?)
[ I am your teacher, aren't I?
They weren't playing football, were they? ]
