negative question (seeking agreement)

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 21 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as:

negative ‘yes/no’ questions to involve the listener or reader by seeking agreement.

B1 point 4 in the category of PRESENT/simple is defined as:

NEGATIVE TAG QUESTIONS ‘don’t you think’ or ‘don’t you agree’ to look for agreement or an opinion.


*This is hard to differentiate to some degree with C1 negative questions for opinions.


If we follow the patterns of the two EGP examples in iWeb:

Do _XX _P _VVI ?

We find that the first two examples are exactly the same as B1 point

1 DO N’T YOU THINK ? 5711
2 Don’t you agree? 760

3 DO N’T YOU SEE ? 493
4 DO N’T YOU UNDERSTAND ? 396
5 DO N’T YOU KNOW ? 342
6 DO N’T YOU REMEMBER ? 187
7 DO N’T YA THINK ? 175
8 DO N’T YOU LIKE ? 95
9 DO N’T YOU CARE ? 45
10 DO N’T WE KNOW ? 32
11 DO N’T YOU GET ? 27
12 DO N’T YOU GO ? 23
13 DO N’T YA KNOW ? 21
14 DO N’T YOU QUIT ? 20
15 DO N’T YOU RECKON ? 20
16 DO N’T YOU REALIZE ? 19
17 DO N’T THEY UNDERSTAND ? 18
18 DO N’T THEY LIKE ? 18
19 DO N’T YOU LEAVE ? 17
20 DO N’T YOU FIND ? 16

Is _XX * _JJ ?

1 IS N’T THAT RIGHT ? 452
2 IS N’T THAT GREAT ? 271

3 ISN’T THAT AMAZING? 244

 

 


4 IS N’T THAT WONDERFUL ? 210
5 IS N’T THAT TRUE ? 158
6 IS N’T THAT INTERESTING ? 150
7 IS N’T THAT COOL ? 145
8 IS N’T IT AMAZING ? 133
9 IS N’T IT OBVIOUS ? 120
10 IS N’T IT GREAT ? 114
11 IS N’T IT BEAUTIFUL ? 101
12 IS N’T THAT CRAZY ? 98
13 IS N’T IT WONDERFUL ? 96
14 IS N’T THAT NICE ? 96
15 IS N’T THAT WEIRD ? 93
16 IS N’T THAT STRANGE ? 91
17 IS N’T THAT FUNNY ? 85
18 IS N’T THAT AWESOME ? 80
19 IS N’T THAT BEAUTIFUL ? 71
20 IS N’T IT CUTE ? 53


A2 vocabulary:

agree, amazing, awesome, care, cool, crazy, strange, true, wonderful

B1:
obvious, quit, realize

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