Question tags (I am late, aren't I?)

[Jesus1]

Hello! Just some questions about question tags.
Thanks in advance

1.- I am late, aren?t I?

I know that?s right.

But, I am not late, are I?

2.- Shut the door, will you/won?t you?

I am afraid both of them are possible, but I
can?t understand what the difference is

3.- Do not run, will you/won?t you?

I am afraid both of them are right as well, but
I don?t grasp the difference either.

4.- Sometimes I find it difficult to choose between
a question tag and a comment tag.

I can not see the difference clearly.

For instance,

a.- You saw him, didn?t you?
b.- You say him, did you?

What?s the difference?

Jes?s

[Yankee]

@Jesus1

Hello! Just some questions about question tags.

Thanks in advance

1.- I am late, aren?t I?

I know that?s right.

But, I am not late, are I? [color=blue]No, the tag here should be: am I

2.- Shut the door, will you/won?t you? [color=blue]I’d only use will you. This isn’t a simple tag that asks for confirmation because it adds the idea of willingness to and softens the command.

I am afraid both of them are possible, but I
can?t understand what the difference is
[color=blue]You’ll shut the door, won’t you?

3.- Do not run, will you/won?t you? [color=blue]Personally, I wouldn’t say either one.
I’d say:
Please don’t run. - OR -
You won’t run, will you? - OR -
Don’t run. OK?

I am afraid both of them are right as well, but
I don?t grasp the difference either.

4.- Sometimes I find it difficult to choose between
a question tag and a comment tag.

I can not see the difference clearly.

For instance,

a.- You saw him, didn?t you? [color=blue](I want to know yes or no)
b.- You say him, did you? [color=blue](That’s interesting/surprising.)

[color=blue]When the sentence is positive and the tag is negative (or vice versa) and the tag is the same verb, you are probably simply asking for confirmation: Is that true? Yes or no?

When you have a positive sentence along with a positive tag as in (b.), it’s probably something else, and in your (b) sentence it sounds to me as though the person finds the fact that you saw him interesting or possibly surprising. So, the tag is used to indicate this.

What?s the difference?

[color=blue]Sentence tags are used in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. Wikipedia has an interesting article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question

Jes?s

[Pamela]

Just in addition to Amy’s excellent explanation!

.- I am late, aren?t I?

You may also say:

I am late, am I not?

[Conchita]

@Pamela

You may also say:

I am late, am I not?

I agree with Pamela. Yet keep in mind that this sounds very formal and isn’t much used in conversation.

[BammBamm]

I find it quite hard introducing this exceptional case to my students since they near to always ask for rules and guidelines.
Any ideas?

[Ahmad1498]

hi this is ahmad . I just found that the question tag of I am is arent I . I answered just like you Am I not . but still not satisfied why teachers like michael swan chose to write Arent I . only .

[James_M]

A MEMBER’S HUMBLE COMMENT

You probably already know this, but there is another way besides “I am your best friend, aren’t I” and “I am your best friend, am I not?”

That other way is “bad” English: “I am your best friend, AIN’T I?” Educated people do not accept “ain’t” as a contraction of “am not.”

As you know, native speakers occasionally use “ain’t” when they are trying to be humorous or folksy.

[E2e4]

Maybe people enjoy to see themselves as “We” so they say “Aren’t I?”
In my, a learner, opinion, the only correct way for this tag is “Am I not?”.
“Aren’t I, Amn’t I, Ain’t I, An’t I” are all equally good enough or not good enough informal ways to say “Am I not” in a short and fast way.

[Beeesneees]

I am late, aren’t I? is perfectly correct too.

[Dozy]

To quote from a previous post of mine:

There is an interesting article at worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-amn1.htm which explains how “amn’t” (the logical contraction) became “an’t” and finally “aren’t”.