Mother said she saw Alfred … ?

Analyze the question: The sentence "Mother said she saw Alfred ......." ends with a blank that needs a question tag (a short question added to the end of a statement). The options are tag forms, so we need the correct one.

Concept: Question tags

• A positive statement takes a negative tag: She is here, isn't she?
• A negative statement takes a positive tag: She isn't here, is she?
• The tag uses the auxiliary that matches the verb tense. For simple past verbs like "saw", the tag uses did / didn't.
• The tag takes the subject pronoun and is separated by a comma.

Solution:

1. The statement is "Mother said she saw Alfred". The main clause is "Mother said", but the tag usually follows the content clause "she saw Alfred".
2. "She saw Alfred" is positive and in the simple past, so the tag must be negative and use "did": didn't she?
3. Check the other options: • A. "did she" is a positive tag, which doesn't suit a positive statement. • B. "she didn't" is not a tag, because the word order is wrong (the auxiliary must come before the pronoun). • C. "she did" is a statement, not a question tag. • D. "didn't she" is a negative tag with the correct order and tense.

Complete sentence: Mother said she saw Alfred, didn't she?

Tip: For question tags, remember "opposite polarity, same auxiliary, then the pronoun": positive statement → negative tag, negative statement → positive tag. For past simple verbs, use did/didn't.