Question Tags: Standard & Exceptions

A targeted practice drill on English Question Tags tailored for Kerala PSC competitive exams (LDC, LGS, CPO, Secretariat Assistant, and Degree Prelims). It focuses on rule mastery for affirmative and negative statements, auxiliary contractions, indefinite pronouns, negative adverbs (hardly, scarcely, seldom), and tricky imperative formulas.

Study Scope

• Core Rule: Positive statement takes negative tag; negative statement takes positive tag
• The 'I am' Rule: 'I am...' takes 'aren't I?'; 'I am not...' takes 'am I?'
• Suggestions & Imperatives: 'Let's...' takes 'shall we?'; 'Let him/them...' takes 'will you?'; standard requests take 'will you?' / 'won't you?'
• Negative Adverbs: Seldom, hardly, rarely, scarcely, barely treated as negative statements (positive tag)
• Quantifiers: 'Few' and 'Little' (negative) vs 'A few' and 'A little' (positive)
• Indefinite Pronouns: Someone, everyone, nobody replaced by 'they' in the tag; nothing, everything replaced by 'it'
• Semi-auxiliary 'used to': Takes 'didn't' in modern standard usage

Tested Competencies

• Formulate accurate tag questions matching auxiliary verbs and sentence polarity
• Apply correct subject pronouns corresponding to complex indefinite subjects
• Spot subtle negative words and attach positive question tags without confusion
• Eliminate recurring Kerala PSC examination traps in sentence completion