My English blog

Intonation

English tag questions can have a rising or a falling intonation pattern.  As a rule, the English rising pattern is used when soliciting information or motivating an action, that is, when some sort of response is required. Since normal English yes/no questions have rising patterns i iii (e.g. Are you coming?), these tags make a grammatical statement into a real question:i

• You're coming, aren't you?i
• Do listen, will you?i
• Let's have a beer, shall we?i

The falling pattern is used to underline a statement. The statement itself ends with a falling pattern, and the tag sounds like an echo, strengthening the pattern. Most English tag questions have this falling pattern.i

• He doesn't know what he's doing, does he?i
• This is really boring, isn't it?i

•  Usually, we use negative tags with positive sentences and positive tags with negative sentences, but this may vary in some regions.In North East  Scotland, for example, positive to positive is used when no special effect is desired:i
• He was the best in the class, was he? (rising: the speaker is challenging this thesis, or perhaps expressing surprised interest)i
• He was the best in the class, wasn't he? (falling: the speaker holds this opinion)i
• Be careful, will you? (rising: expresses irritation)i
• Take care, won't you? (falling: expresses concern)i

Sometimes the same words may have different patterns depending on the situation or implication.i

• You don't remember my name, do you? (rising: expresses surprise)i
• You don't remember my name, do you? ( falling: expresses amusement or resignation)i
• Your name's Mary, isn't it? (rising: expresses uncertainty)i
• Your name's Mary, isn't it? (falling: expresses confidence)i

On the other hand, the adverbial tag questions (alright? OK? etc.) are almost always found with rising patterns. An occasional exception is surely.i