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I'm a little confused as to the following question tags:

He's rarely been away for this long before, has he?

We'd better not delay reading this any longer, had we?

Now's hardly the time to tell me you didn't need a test at all, is it?
I understand the rule is that there should be a positive and a negative, such as with: 'Steve's off to China, isn't he?' Though in the above examples this doesn't apply. Can anyone explain why? Thanks.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I'm a little confused as to the following question tags: He's rarely been away for this long before, has he? ... with: 'Steve's off to China, isn't he?' Though in the above examples this doesn't apply. Can anyone explain why? Thanks.[/nq]
The first parts have negatives in them: rarely, not, hardly. So the tag questions have to be the opposite, the positive.
"Rarely" and "hardly" may not look like negatives at first glance, but they are. Notice that the sentences would mean almost the same if you changed them to:
He hasn't been away for this long before...
Now is not the time to tell me...

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm a little confused as to the following question tags: He's rarely been away for this long before, has he? ... with: 'Steve's off to China, isn't he?' Though in the above examples this doesn't apply. Can anyone explain why? Thanks.[/nq]
"Rarely been away", "better not delay", and "hardly the time" all have negative aspects in these sentences.
Someone else will explain it better, I'm sure. I don't ever analyze these things to me the language is intuitive.

Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ I speak English well I learn it from a book!
Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I'm a little confused as to the following question tags: ... me you didn't need a test at all, is it?[/nq]
[nq:1]The first parts have negatives in them: rarely, not, hardly. So the tag questions have to be the opposite, the positive.[/nq]
What about..
- He's rarely been away for this long before, has he commonly? - Now's hardly the time to tell me you didn't need a test at all, is it easily?
[nq:1]"Rarely" and "hardly" may not look like negatives at first glance, but they are.[/nq]
Where does one draw the line? Is "sometimes" positive or negative?

Stewart.

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Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]The first parts have negatives in them: rarely, not, hardly. So the tag questions have to be the opposite, the positive.[/nq]
[nq:1]What about.. - He's rarely been away for this long before, has he commonly? - Now's hardly the time to tell me you didn't need a test at all, is it easily?[/nq]
Well, no, people don't form tag questions like that. And, besides, "easily" is not the opposite of "hardly," which lost any sense of "being hard" ages ago.
[nq:2]"Rarely" and "hardly" may not look like negatives at first glance, but they are.[/nq]
[nq:1] Where does one draw the line? Is "sometimes" positive or negative?[/nq]
Well, testing an example:
He sometimes succeeds, doesn't he?
In that case, "sometimes" is positive. It emphasizes the times that he does succeed.
There's a special sort of tag question that I think of as being vaguely British and skeptical, where the speaker is expressing doubt:

He sometimes succeeds, does he?
Maybe what troubles you is that now you think there must be long lists of words that behave like negatives even though they don't look like them. I think the list is very short, pretty much limited to "hardly" and "rarely," and maybe "only" and "few," although I haven't tested those out.

Best Donna Richoux

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