question tag

[English4everyone]

Is the following sentence correct? I doubt.
He must be a professional player, mustn't he?

 

[emsr2d2]

Is the following sentence correct? I doubt.
He must be a professional player, mustn't he?

In BrE, it's fine. You will also hear "He's got to be a professional player, hasn't he?"

Remember though that it only works for an assumption which is felt to be close to 100% correct. We don't really use it the same way when "must" refers to obligation.

 

[English4everyone]

In BrE, it's fine. You will also hear "He's got to be a professional player, hasn't he?"

Remember though that it only works for an assumption which is felt to be close to 100% correct. We don't really use it the same way when "must" refers to obligation.

So how do we make the question tag if "must" refers to an obligation?
Example: He must study harder, . . .?

 

[emsr2d2]

It's rather difficult to construct something like that because if the "must" refers to an obligation, then we would normally expect to hear it simply as a statement, not a question.

Teacher: John's grades aren't as good as we had hoped.
Parent: That's disappointing. What can he do to improve them?
Teachers: Well, he must study harder and he really must do his homework on time.

I have constructed a rather unnatural dialogue which might happen later:

John's mother: I spoke to the teacher today. John's grades aren't very good and the teacher doesn't think he's studying hard enough.
John's father: I think I probably know what the teacher said is required. He must study harder, mustn't he?
John's mother: Yes, that's exactly what the teacher said. John must study harder.

As I said before it, that sounds very unnatural to me. The conversation is more likely to go:

John's mother: I spoke to John's teacher today. They're worried about John's grades and the teacher said he must study harder.
John's father: OK. He must study harder - is that all?
John's mother: No, he must do his homework on time as well.

 

[English4everyone]

It's rather difficult to construct something like that because if the "must" refers to an obligation, then we would normally expect to hear it simply as a statement, not a question.

Teacher: John's grades aren't as good as we had hoped.
Parent: That's disappointing. What can he do to improve them?
Teachers: Well, he must study harder and he really must do his homework on time.

I have constructed a rather unnatural dialogue which might happen later:

John's mother: I spoke to the teacher today. John's grades aren't very good and the teacher doesn't think he's studying hard enough.
John's father: I think I probably know what the teacher said is required. He must study harder, mustn't he?
John's mother: Yes, that's exactly what the teacher said. John must study harder.

As I said before it, that sounds very unnatural to me. The conversation is more likely to go:

John's mother: I spoke to John's teacher today. They're worried about John's grades and the teacher said he must study harder.
John's father: OK. He must study harder - is that all?
John's mother: No, he must do his homework on time as well.

Thanks a lot for the clarification. :up:

 

[Rover_KE]

@English4everyone.

Your thanks are appreciated, but you don't need to send them in a separate post or to quote our replies back to us.

We are all happy to accept a simple click on the Like button as your acknowledgement of our help.

Rover​

:-D

 

[5jj]

I think that the 'must' (= oligation) question tag is natural if 'must' implies a suggestion rather than obligation:

A: I am smoking far too much at the moment.
B: Well, you must try to cut down, mustn't you?