Don't you/do you?
Hi, everyone
What's the difference between saying "You hit the gym a lot, don't you?" and "You hit the gym a lot, do you?"?
Thank you
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 6
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I agree with Anya. I use the positive statement + positive tag in the way she describes. It can also be used to express surprise or sarcasm e.g. So you think you're tough, do you?
Using positive plus positive in the sentence you've given sounds like you don't believe the person goes to the gym a lot, which is probably a little rude!
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The second one sounds completely wrong to my English ears. The first is not really expressing doubt, but comes from not wanting to make a statement about somebody else - i.e. not suggesting that I know more than you about your own life, which would be impolite.
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"You hit the gym a lot, do you?"?
"Positive statement + positive tag" structure usually shows that you're interested in what the other speaker is saying and encourages them to give some additional information.
"You hit the gym a lot, don't you?"
Such questions are usually used to confirm some information.
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When it comes to grammar, the second one is incorrect because you have to turn the sentence reverse (From positive to negative, from negative to positive) in tag questions.
For speaking, the question in the first sentence means like " I know you hit the gym a lot, but still is that right? (only to make sure)
The question in the second sentence feels more like you start doubting the information in the middle of the sentence and say the last part with a weird intonation "do you?" (It might mean sth like "maybe you don't even hit the gym)
Hope this helps!
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Positive=Negative. That's what my teacher always says. "You >did< your homework(p) >didn't< you?(n)". and Negative=Positive. "You >didn't< trust me(n), >did< you?(p)"
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