[Grammar] What will be the question tag of this- I must do it.

[Sahil Dhankhar]

This is not my homework.
What will be the appropriate question tags of the following sentences?

1-I must do it, must not I?
1-A- I must do it, mustn't I?
2-I must do it, don't I?

3-I must not do it, must I?
4-I must not do it, do I?

5- I have a pen, don't I?
6- I have a pen, haven't I?
7- I have no pen, have I?
8- I have no pen, do I?
9- I have no pen, haven't I?
10- I have no pen, don't I?
11- He didn't have a pen, did he?
12-He didn't have a pen, had he?

13:- We should let them play, shall we?
14:- We should let them play, shan't we?
15:-We should let them play, shouldn't we?
16:-We should let them play, should we?

 

[emsr2d2]

This is not my homework.
What [STRIKE]will be[/STRIKE] are the appropriate question tags of the following sentences?

1-I must do it, must not I? :cross: We don't use "must not I". We always use the contraction.
1-A- I must do it, mustn't I? :tick:
2-I must do it, don't I? :cross:

See above for the first few.

 

[GoesStation]

Few Americans ever say mustn't.

 

[GoesStation]

Use the same verb in the tag as appears in the statement.

 

[emsr2d2]

Use the same verb in the tag as appears in the statement.

That works most of the time. However, if you choose "have to" instead of "must", for example, it doesn't work the same way.

I must do it, mustn't I?
I have to do it, don't I?

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

"Use the same verb in the tag as appears in the statement."
Is the above concept apply to the following sentences also?

5- I have a pen, don't I?
6- I have a pen, haven't I?
7- I have no pen, have I?
8- I have no pen, do I?
9- I have no pen, haven't I?
10- I have no pen, don't I?
11- He didn't have a pen, did he?
12-He didn't have a pen, had he?

Which of the above are right?
Someone was telling me that 6 and 7 are in accordance with BrE. 5 and 8 are in accordance with American English. 9,10 and 12 are wrong.

I am much confused and that's why I want you help regarding this.

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

What will be the appropriate question tag of the following sentence?

1-I always have my lunch at 12 o'clock, don't I?
2-I always have my lunch at 12 o'clock, haven't I?

Before answering the above, kindly have a look at the following.
Practical English usage, Michael Swan, quotes, " After non-auxiliary have (referring to states),question tags with have and do are often both possible".

 

[GoesStation]

What [STRIKE]will[/STRIKE] would be the appropriate question tag [STRIKE]of[/STRIKE] for the following sentence?

1-I always have my lunch at 12 o'clock, don't I?
2-I always have my lunch at 12 o'clock, haven't I?

Before answering the above, kindly have a look at the following.
Practical English usage, Michael Swan, quotes, " After non-auxiliary have (referring to states),question tags with have and do are often both possible".

A question tag isn't always logically possible. You already know what time you eat, don't you?

If you change sentence one to something like He always has his lunch at twelve o'clock, the appropriate question tag would be doesn't he?

 

[jutfrank]

Before answering the above, kindly have a look at the following.
Practical English usage, Michael Swan, quotes, " After non-auxiliary have (referring to states),question tags with have and do are often both possible".

The rules about question tags are very simple.

1) Use the same auxiliary verb that appears in the statement.
2) With no auxiliary verb, use do.

In I always have my lunch at 12 o'clock, there is no auxiliary, so you must use do:

I always have my lunch at 12 o'clock, don't I?

(There is no state here. The sentence expresses a routine behaviour.)

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Thanks, kindly have a look at post#6. Would those sentences fall under the category of "non-auxiliary use of have referring to states"?

 

[GoesStation]

Thanks, kindly have a look at post#6. Would those sentences fall under the category of "non-auxiliary use of 'have' referring to states"?

Yes. The verb "have" is not an auxiliary in your examples; it refers to a state of being in each case.

Always mark text you're writing about. The original quotation set "have" in italics, but quotation marks are fine. I used single quotes above because the word I was marking was part of a quoted section marked with double quotes.

 

[jutfrank]

Thanks, kindly have a look at post#6. Would those sentences fall under the category of "non-auxiliary use of have referring to states"?

Yes, the possessive use of have is stative. That means that 5-11 are all possibly correct in the mind of an Indian competitive test assessor.

12 is not correct. See rule 1 from post #9..

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

I am really thankful, especially for this -"possibly correct in the mind of an Indian competitive test assessor.".

Have I formed the correct question tag of the sentence given below?
She ought not to do this, ought she?

 

[jutfrank]

Have I formed the correct question tag of the sentence given below?
She ought not to do this, ought she?

If I were an English language teacher, I would flatly advise against using the semi-modal ought in any question tag.

If I were sitting an Indian competitive exam, I would probably get a bit anxious and then take a guess that the test's assessors would regard this as good English.