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This strikes me as quite a “wonderful” package of grammatical operations –
wonderful in several respects. First of all that there is a clear system involved.
Secondly, that it is quite complex. Thirdly, that despite this complexity, it is
learned independently by generations of very young native speakers without
direct guidance from mature native speakers. Fourthly, this package of
operations represents only a tiny corner of the vast grammatical system behind
the English language. That children can master the whole system within a few
years of birth can but fill the observer with wonder (hence the original sense
of “wonderful” is also applicable here).
At the risk of overdoing the point, I feel compelled to add that the seven
operations listed above do not even tell the full story about tag-questions.
There are a number of other grammatical features which native speakers
acquire along the way:
• irregular contractions of operator + not:
o
o
will + not = won’t (e.g. You will join us, won’t you?)
shall + not = shan’t (e.g. I shall be able to see better soon, shan’t I?)
o am + not = aren’t (e.g. I am right about that, aren’t I?)
• lack of contraction altogether: In a more formal style, contractions can be
avoided. When this happens, the negative particle (“not”) does not become
part of the operator, and therefore does not appear to the left of the subject:
o
She is rich, isn’t she? (informal)
o She is rich, is she not? (formal)
• DO-SUPPORT: If the predicator does not contain an operator, English
makes use of the “dummy” verb do wherever an operator is needed:
o
She likes chocolate, doesn’t she?
o She doesn’t like chocolate, does she?
• irony/sarcasm: When the main statement is positive, a reversal of the
polarity in the tag can sometimes be omitted to provide a sense of irony or
sarcasm. Thus the following sentence could mean: “So you think you have
finished your homework. Well, I have news for you”):
o
You have finished your homework, have you?
This option of parallel polarity is not available if the main statement is
negative:
o *You haven’t finished your homework, haven’t you? (The asterisk, *,
marks the sentence as unacceptable English.)
So much for tag-questions in English. Let us turn our attention now to Danish.
Interestingly, the principles for formulating tag-questions in Danish are very
similar to those we have examined for English – but they are rarely mentioned
in Danish grammar books:
page 23
John M. Dienhart