[General] Tag question - isn't it?

[Olympian]

Hello,

I heard the following on a TV serial:

Yes, of course. That's exactly what a good publicist should say, isn't it?
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I can see the tag question 'isn't it' is tagging 'That is exactly ...., isn't it?'.
Instead of 'isn't it' is it also acceptable to tag it with 'shouldn't s/he?, because the statement is 'That's exactly what a good publicist should say'

By the way, I had read somewhere and also observed that in Indian English, the common tag question is 'isn't it' whether it is quite correct or not. For example, 'He sold it, isn't it?', or 'He didn't come, isn't it?' I remember there was a section about something like this in the entry for 'Indian English' on Wikipedia, but I can't seem to find it there anymore. Well, somebody must have removed it, isn't it? ;-)

Thank you

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[MikeNewYork]

Hello,

I heard the following on a TV serial:

Yes, of course. That's exactly what a good publicist should say, isn't it?
​

I can see the tag question 'isn't it' is tagging 'That is exactly ...., isn't it?'.
Instead of 'isn't it' is it also acceptable to tag it with 'shouldn't s/he?, because the statement is 'That's exactly what a good publicist should say'

By the way, I had read somewhere and also observed that in Indian English, the common tag question is 'isn't it' whether it is quite correct or not. For example, 'He sold it, isn't it?', or 'He didn't come, isn't it?' I remember there was a section about something like this in the entry for 'Indian English' on Wikipedia, but I can't seem to find it there anymore. Well, somebody must have removed it, isn't it? ;-)

Thank you

For your sentence, "isn't it" is the correct tag question. Your suggested tag question would work with: A good publicist should say that, shouldn't
she/he?

 

[Olympian]

For your sentence, "isn't it" is the correct tag question. Your suggested tag question would work with: A good publicist should say that, shouldn't she/he?

@MikeNewYork, I see. Thank you.

 

[Rover_KE]

Olympian, instead of sending your thanks in a separate message and quoting our replies back to us, just click the Like button, please.

The reason is that it is flagged as a new post, so we think you might have a follow-up question or something to add. Those of us with slow internet connections and/or old computers have to waste valuable time waiting for it to appear.

Thank you.

Rover

 

[Tdol]

By the way, I had read somewhere and also observed that in Indian English, the common tag question is 'isn't it' whether it is quite correct or not. For example, 'He sold it, isn't it?', or 'He didn't come, isn't it?'

Innit is used by some BrE speakers as an all-purpose question tag.

 

[emsr2d2]

Innit is used by some BrE speakers as an all-purpose question tag.

It's not even a question tag in many cases. It's just a strange utterance at the end of a sentence. "My girlfriend's pregnant, innit", "That bloke spilt my pint, innit", "I wasn't never learnt to talk proper innit". ;-)

 

[MikeNewYork]

Innit is used by some BrE speakers as an all-purpose question tag.

Funny, innit?