grammars

[Tapas k baral]

why this is so,
i am a good boy in tag question why we are writing aren't i?

plz justify why it is not , isn't i?

 

[mkey]

Hello.

You'll have to try a bit harder and deliver your question more accurately.
As it is now, I'm not sure many will understand what is it you're asking. I surely don't

 

[5jj]

Several verbs change the vowel in the contracted form of the negative: /kæn,kɑ:nt/, /æm, ɑ:nt/, / ʃæl, ʃɑ:nt/, /du:, dəʊnt/, /wɪl,wəʊnt/. It just so happens that /ɑ:nt/ is also the pronunciation of the negative form of form are, and the spelling aren't was used for both forms.

Please make some effort to use capital letters and punctuation correctly, and to avoid chatroom contractions such as 'plz'. The word is 'please'.

 

[Raymott]

He seems to want to know why we say, "I'm a good boy, aren't I?" rather than "I am good boy, isn't I?"

 

[5jj]

He seems to want to know why we say, "I'm a good boy, aren't I?" rather than "I am good boy, isn't I?"

My response to that would be 'Why on earth should we?"

In the question tag, we almost always use part of the same verb as in the original, and in the same person. There are exceptions (such as those below), but there aren't many.

Let's go, shall we?
No one has applied, have they?

 

[emsr2d2]

He seems to want to know why we say, "I'm a good boy, aren't I?" rather than "I am good boy, isn't I?"

If anything, I would expect the OP to think it should be "I am a good boy, amn't I?" However, as 5jj said, the tag questions don't always follow the expected pattern and just have to be learnt.

 

[Raymott]

If anything, I would expect the OP to think it should be "I am a good boy, amn't I?" However, as 5jj said, the tag questions don't always follow the expected pattern and just have to be learnt.

Maybe if he comes back, he can explain why he didn't write, "plz justify why it is not , amn't i?"

 

[emsr2d2]

Maybe if he comes back, he can explain why he didn't write, "plz justify why it is not , amn't i?"

I can see that he queried why it's not "isn't I", I simply meant that I would have expected him to think it should be "amn't I?"

 

[BobK]

If anything, I would expect the OP to think it should be "I am a good boy, amn't I?"...

Which indeed was a possibility a few hundred years ago. ;-)

b

 

[emsr2d2]

And was, if I remember rightly, still used by my grandmother from Wiltshire some forty years ago.

 

[bhaisahab]

I can see that he queried why it's not "isn't I", I simply meant that I would have expected him to think it should be "amn't I?"

I'm sure I've said this before, but, I'm going to say it again. In Irish English "amn't I" is very commonly used, probably more than "aren't I".

 

[BobK]

Sounds quite possible. I'm prettyy sure my grandfather used it - though he had nothing to do with Wiltshire; Scotland then Wales then London.

b