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Question tags — “did you” vs. “didn’t you”

  1. People can hardly motivate themselves now, can they?
  2. People can hardly motivate themselves now, can't they?

Number 1 is the correct answer. However, usage of can't they in number 2 can also be correct as it takes the tag question format but due to now being used in the sentence, it is wrong.

My question is, I am too sure that number 1 is the correct answer, but I am not sure about the above explanation. How true this holds? And why the addition of the adverb "now" makes number 2 incorrect?

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Bright Polyglot
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    It's not the "now", it's the "hardly", that makes the difference. – Peter Shor Jan 04 '13 at 17:49
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    However, it is the hardly which makes the difference. – Andrew Leach Jan 04 '13 at 17:55
  • List of NPIs and Negative Triggers here; freshman grammar problem on tag questions here. – John Lawler Jan 04 '13 at 19:51
  • @John Lawler: Any chance of posting the "answers" to those freshman grammar problems? I can't think of any credible tag question for "She may not like that, xxxx?", and with "Let us/Let's go to the game, xxxx?" I can't see how the contracted form let's changes anything - I come up with shall we? for both. – FumbleFingers Jan 04 '13 at 21:55
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    They were invited to "Comment on any irregularities or difficulties." The rule is simple, in its general form, but there turn out to be devils in the details, and the problem was designed to get them to think about how those details could be captured in the rule. Feel free to post your own answer; one page maximum. – John Lawler Jan 04 '13 at 22:24
  • @FumbleFingers Not 100% sure if this is right but in "Let us go to the game" the speakers are asking for permission, hence the tag, won't you? whereas in "Let's go to the game." the speakers are making a suggestion so shall we? is, I think, the correct tag. No.23 could be will she? but that is causing me some problems. I would love to know if I'm right! – Mari-Lou A Jul 15 '13 at 00:29
  • @Mari-Lou: I guess will she? is the best you can do for #23, but nothing is "correct" there for me. I hadn't seen the alternate reading for let us (it would hardly ever occur without please in such a context! :), but yes - it would take won't you? (or perhaps more likely, will you?) in that context. – FumbleFingers Jul 15 '13 at 03:28

1 Answers1

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As you say, the correct form is

People can hardly motivate themselves now, can they?

The other sentence with can't in the question tag is not correct. Where the question tag indicates that the speaker is expecting the hearer to agree, the tag verb negates the main verb.

People can't motivate themselves now, can they?

This indicates an opinion on the part of the speaker, and anticipates agreement.

The reason that the correct tag for the first sentence appears to repeat the main verb is the use of hardly. Hardly is a Negative Polarity Indicator — almost as strong as not — and therefore the tag verb has to be positive.

To use can't as the tag verb, the first statement has to be positive: "People can really motivate themselves now, can't they?" Again, this assumes that the speaker expects to be agreed with.

Andrew Leach
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    I don't think this is the correct punctuation. I think the now should come after the comma, not before it. Probably doesn't matter much ... or does it? – Robusto Jan 04 '13 at 19:16
  • I don't think it changes the substance of the answer and the effect of NPIs. I'm happy with now on the left of the comma. – Andrew Leach Jan 04 '13 at 19:19
  • @Robusto: I agree. This is the same now as in: At last Aeneas and Dido made love in that cave. Now, she wasn't a virgin, but this still made a deep impression upon her. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Jan 04 '13 at 19:20
  • @Cerberus Agree with whom? The now here is "at the moment", or "these days". – Andrew Leach Jan 04 '13 at 19:22
  • In "You don't want to come now, do you?", the implication is that something about the situation has just changed, and that's the reason the speaker expects that you don't want to come. In "You don't want to come, now do you?", the word "now" means something like "answer me now". The speaker might always have believed that you didn't want to come - he's just saying it's time for you to admit it. – FumbleFingers Jan 04 '13 at 19:24
  • @AndrewLeach: Okay, if that's what it means, then it should not be preceded by a comma. If it means something like "after all", then you'd need a comma. I thought that was what the OP meant, but it is indeed ambiguous. He should clarify his question. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Jan 04 '13 at 19:54
  • @FumbleFingers: No, it doesn't mean "answer me now." It's some other part of speech: interjection, possibly. – Robusto Jan 04 '13 at 21:45
  • @Robusto: You're probably right. Arguably if the "now" comes after the comma, it doesn't really "mean" anything at all in that sense, so you could call it a "content-free interjection" if you like. But it seems to me it's performing exactly the same role in "Be honest [now], you don't really want to come [do you?]", however you want to classify that. – FumbleFingers Jan 04 '13 at 22:05