Select the correct tag question:
You hardly ever visit the central library these days, _____?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. do you
- Step 1: Determine the polarity of the main clause. The frequency adverb 'hardly ever' has negative force, making the main statement grammatically negative in polarity. A negative statement requires a positive question tag.
- Step 2: Match the tense and auxiliary verb of the statement. The main verb 'visit' is in the simple present tense with second-person pronoun 'you', which takes the auxiliary 'do'. Combining positive polarity with 'do' and 'you' gives 'do you?'.
Answer
do you.
Why not the others: don't you incorrectly assumes the main clause is positive and applies a negative tag; did you incorrectly switches the tense from simple present to simple past; haven't you introduces an inappropriate perfect auxiliary 'have' not found in the stem.
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