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You look very tired,......?
What's the correct tag question here, aren't you?, or don't you?
When we say 'someone looks tired', it means either 'they appear to be tired', or 'they are tired'. In the former sense, the tag question shoul be don't they? and in the latter sense, it should be aren't they? But, I am confused. I would like to have an expert opinion.
Your method is flawed. You write:
When we say 'someone looks tired', it means either 'they appear to be tired', or 'they are tired'. In the former sense, the tag question should be don't they? and in the latter sense, it should be aren't they?
You cannot determine the tag question from a paraphrase of the statement's "sense" or meaning. Instead you must determine the tag question from the verb phrase in the statement itself:
You do look very tired, don't you?
You are looking very tired, aren't you?
These would be ungrammatical:
You are look very tired... NO
You do looking very tired...NO
For this I would go with don't you
The only reason I would choose aren't you here is if the question included a copula:-
You're very tired...
