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I have seen a sentence in a grammar book which is not written by a native speaker, the book suggests that in the following sentence:

Oliver has a lot of friends, doesn't/hasn't he?

Both forms of tag questions are correct, but why is it so?

We know that in present perfect we use "has/have" in the tag question because has/have isn't the main verb but why when "has" is the main verb here we again can use "has" in the tag question?

In another part of the book, it says that sometimes verbs like "need" can be directly negative by adding "not" to them in British English, like: "You needn't help me.", does "has" in the sentence above have the same situation? If so, is it only for British English or both of British and American?

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    Thanks, @DialFrost .
    – user141755
    Apr 8, 2022 at 8:02
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    np @user48, i edited my post to answer your 2nd part of the question as well
    – DialFrost
    Apr 8, 2022 at 8:06
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    Only "doesn't he?" is correct. The rule is that if the anchor verb is a lexical one (as it is in your example) select "do" in the tag.
    – BillJ
    Apr 8, 2022 at 9:05
  • @user48 Are you clear now that the correct tag is "doesn't he?"?
    – BillJ
    Apr 8, 2022 at 9:49
  • @BillJ I guess I am, thanks. But I think it would be better to get more answers on this topic.
    – user141755
    Apr 8, 2022 at 10:38

2 Answers 2

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Oliver has a lot of friends, doesn't/hasn't he?

The rule is that if the anchor verb is an auxiliary, select the same verb, otherwise select the appropriate form of "do". In this example the verb is lexical "have" ("has"), so the correct tag is "doesn't he?"

It may help to consider the tag as a reduced version of the full interrogative clause Doesn't Oliver have a lot of friends?, not Hasn't Oliver a lot of friends?

Note that for most speakers "have" is a lexical verb (as opposed to an auxiliary) when it denotes possession and, of course, lexical verbs require do support to form interrogatives (She likes it ~ Does she like it?, not * Likes it she?)

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First off, no you cannot use "have" in the tag question when using "have" as the main verb, as

Oliver have a lot of friends

is already grammatically wrong, so you cannot use "haven't" as the tag question. Plus, using "haven't" as tag question in "haven't he" is grammatically wrong as well in the context of this question (correct in other sentences)

"hasn't" actually does not fit in the sentence, as it sounds wrong and is grammatically wrong. You can only use "hasn't" in certain sentences where someone has done something e.g.

You have done your homework, haven't you?

The reason why "doesn't" not only fits in this sentence and sounds correct, is because of its generality, so it can be used in many different sentences of different structure.

To answer "does 'has' in the sentence above have the same situation?", I think they have similar situations as even though "need" and "has" are two different words with different meanings, they both still can add a "not" to form certain sentences e.g.

You needn't help me

vs

You haven't helped me

However, in the above example "needn't" and "haven't" have different meanings so be careful when using "not" behinds verbs.

I am not exactly sure about whether it works for both british and american english, or just british, but I feel it works for both

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    I corrected my clumsy mistake in the question, too. Than you.
    – user141755
    Apr 8, 2022 at 8:21
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    @user48 i have changed my answer accordingly, does it still answer your question?
    – DialFrost
    Apr 8, 2022 at 8:28
  • Yes, it helped, thanks.
    – user141755
    Apr 8, 2022 at 8:35
  • The correct form for the tag is "doesn't he?" "Hasn't he?" is wrong.
    – BillJ
    Apr 8, 2022 at 9:05
  • why? @BillJ i know it sounds wrong but is there a better explanation?
    – DialFrost
    Apr 8, 2022 at 9:13

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