What is the most suitable tag question used after the following sentence?
Everybody forgot to congratulate her, ...........?
By the way, l have found several different answers, such as "did they", "don't you think" , "isn't that so" and " didn' they". But l am not really sure of the most suitable one.
Tag questions (short answer) in declarative sentences:
A tag is formed by taking the helping verb of the main verb (make it a question to find the helping verb).
Everybody forgot to congratulate her.
Did everybody forget to congratulate her?
TAG: Everybody forgot to congratulate her, didn't they?
Main verb: forget Tense: simple past (forgot).
Also, don't forget that in a declarative sentence tag, the tag must be negative interrogative (didn't they?). In a negative sentence, the tag must be plain interrogative (They didn't forget to congratulate her, did they?).
You can practice with these: The boys have found the dog and brought him home. [tricky, kind of] You will be going to school this afternoon. We wouldn't have been in town so late, normally.
Clues: the helping verbs are either in the sentence (have, will, is/are, would/should) but in the present and simple past, you have to come up with [do/does and did).
You speak Russian, don't you? You have to remember that do is the helping verb.
This is just a basic introduction, not the whole entire story.
Here is an important irregularity: I'm being clear, aren't I? :) [regular] VERSUS I'm being clear, am I? [in response to praise or to be sarcastic, for example]
That one does not follow the rules, you just have to learn it. First person sentence in the present tense with a tag.
Also, in a negative sentence: I'm not being clear, am I?
There are several types of tag questions : 1. Opposite polarity tag questions
She’s a translator, isn’t she? (affirmative main clause + negative tag)
He hasn’t arrived yet, has he? (negative main clause + affirmative tag)
We can use type 1 question tags when we expect the answer to the question to confirm that what we say in the main clause is true:
The second type of question is similar polarity tag questions which consist of an affirmative main clause and an affirmative tag:
You’re Joe’s cousin, are you?
We can use type 2 tags when we do not know if the answer is yes or no. The intonation is usually a rising tone.
We can use right and yeah in very informal situations instead of question tags:
So, you’re not coming with us tonight, right?
"Everybody" requires "they", you can say "didn't they", "did they", "right/yeah", "you know" in different situations.
