Tag question

[Anonymous]

Hi I just want to know hich is a correct tag question for this statement:

We ought to have some dessert.

Is it... We ought to have some dessert, shouldn't we?

Or...

we ought to have some dessert, oughtn't we?

Thanks for your response.

 

[blacknomi]

Hi I just want to know hich is a correct tag question for this statement:

We ought to have some dessert.

Is it... We ought to have some dessert, shouldn't we?

Or...

we ought to have some dessert, oughtn't we?

Thanks for your response.

oughtn't we?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hi I just want to know hich is a correct tag question for this statement:

We ought to have some dessert.

Is it... We ought to have some dessert, shouldn't we?

Or...

we ought to have some dessert, oughtn't we?

Thanks for your response.

I would go with "shouldn't", but I would probably also use "should" in the first. :wink:

 

[Tdol]

As a BE speaker, I'd use 'oughtn't'. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

About the only time Americans use "ought" is in the phrase "ought to", and that is not very often.

 

[Tdol]

We don't use the negative much, but we would in a question tag. ;-)

 

[Daruma]

Hello.

1. She ought to be at the station, shouldn't she?
2. She ought to be at the station, oughtn't she?

Does #1 sound natural to British English speakers, and #2 to American English speakers? Both sentences are grammatically correct, aren't they?

 

[delamor]

1. She ought to be at the station, shouldn't she?
2. She ought to be at the station, oughtn't she?

The right we say:
She is ought to be at the station, isn't she?

 

[svartnik]

1. She ought to be at the station, shouldn't she?
2. She ought to be at the station, oughtn't she?

The right we say:
She is ought to be at the station, isn't she?

I am thinking of which properties of marginal modals does such non-standard syntax abuse. :-D

 

[konungursvia]

I think Delamor is kidding, nothing written in his recent post is good English. "Shouldn't we" sounds most natural in AE, "oughtn't we" sounds unusual to us, but they both sound natural in BE.