Question

He used to be punctual, _________

• A. did he ?
• B. does he ?
• C. doesn’t he ?
• D. didn’t he

Answer 1

Answer:

C. doesn’t he ?

Question Tag Basics

• Question tags are short questions added at the end of a statement to confirm information or to seek agreement.
• They are formed using an auxiliary verb (or the verb 'be') and a pronoun that refers to the subject of the statement.
• The polarity of the question tag is opposite to that of the statement. If the statement is positive, the tag is negative, and vice versa.

Analyzing the Statement: 'He used to be punctual'

• The main verb is 'used to be', which indicates a past habit.
• In statements with 'used to', the auxiliary verb for the question tag is derived from the past tense of 'do', which is 'did'.
• Since the statement is positive, the question tag needs to be negative.
• The subject of the statement is 'He', so the pronoun in the tag will be 'he'.
• Therefore, the correct negative question tag is 'didn't he?'.

Common Errors and Competitive Exam Focus

• Students often confuse 'used to' with other past tense forms. Remember that 'used to' requires 'did' for question tags and negative sentences.
• Pay close attention to the auxiliary verb in the original statement. If it's already present (e.g., 'He is punctual'), use that auxiliary verb in the tag (e.g., 'isn't he?').
• In cases like 'He used to be punctual', the auxiliary verb is implied in the past tense.
• Common distractors in multiple-choice questions might include 'isn't he?' or 'wasn't he?', which are incorrect because they don't account for the 'used to' construction.