An appropriate question tag for "He's too weak to walk."?

Question

A couple of days ago, I sat for an English exam. There was a question there that asked for the appropriate question tag for the sentence "He's too weak to walk." I answered "isn't he?" but my teacher claimed that the correct answer should be "is he?" since the sentence expresses a negative meaning. Frankly his explanation made no sense to me.Is he right? Am I missing something? What should be the appropriate question tag for the sentence *He's too weak to walk.*?-----When we're asked to add question tags in tests, we are expected to add tags that agree with the assertion, for example, *It's a great day, isn't it?* Question tags that genuinely express doubt whether the sentence is true or not aren't expected.

Answer 1

Hi there! I would be glad to help.

Remember question tags are short questions at the end of a statement. Question tags are used for when asking for agreement or for affirmation.

A POSITIVE statement is followed by a NEGATIVE question tag.

And vice versa, a NEGATIVE statement is followed by a POSITIVE question tag.

Here for your question, "He's too weak to walk."

This is a negative statement. As the adjective WEAK makes it negative. As a result, the negative statement must be followed by a POSITIVE question tag.

Your answer tag, "Isn't he?" is negative. Is NOT he. That means a negative statement would be followed by a negative tag.

To make it correct a positive tag needs to be added so--> is he?

Answer: "He is too weak to walk. Is he?"