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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

I wish he were here

0I wish he were here , ........?02br
02br
00a) weren't he? b) do you c) do I?02br
02br
00What is the tag question for wish clauses? Can you give me some examples please? I don't understand, help me please.0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00If you change the sentence to: You wish he were here,... 0-

  • 02br 02br 00If you change the sentence to: You wish he were here,...
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7 Answers
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0I can't imagine why you would use a tag question for this example - are you checking with yourself that that's what you wish?02br
02br
00If you change the sentence to: You wish he were here,... the tag question would be ...don't you?0-
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0You can also add "don't you" to the original sentence.02br
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01i00I wish he were here, don't you?02i0-
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0 To me, though, that's not really a tag question as it isn't self-referring. It's more of an extension of the question: I wish he were here - don't you wish he were here too? I think I'd say that with a slightly different emphasis (more stress on the 'you' than the 'don't' - rather than the other way round for a tag question). 0-
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0Yes, different types of tag questions have different types of emphasis. 02br
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00I agree that most tag questions are self-referring, but I also think that saying a tag question is 01u00always02u00 self-referring is too narrow a definition.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10I wish he were here , ........?12br
12br
10a) weren't he? b) do you c) do I?12br
12br
10What is the tag question for wish clauses? Can you give me some examples please? I don't understand, help me please.12br
12br
12blockquote
10Hi
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0 Hi Yankee, your post is very helpful. You also poined out the differences in stress and intonation, wich are often important because the meaning can change.01blockquote
01cite10Yankee12cite11i10You wish he were here, 11u11b10don't you12b12u10? 12i10(11font10Falling
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"weren't he?" doesn't make sense at all.
"do I?" is contradictory because first you say you wish he were here, then you question yourself?
"do you?" makes the most sense. If you were with a friend and he said "I wish he were here, do you?" it means that he is asking you if you too wish he were here.

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