The musicians have not arrived from Sierra Leone, … ?

Analyze the question: This is a question tag question. The tag must match the main sentence in tense and subject, and it must have the opposite polarity (positive becomes negative, negative becomes positive).

Concept:

• A positive statement takes a negative tag: They have arrived, haven't they?
• A negative statement takes a positive tag: They have not arrived, have they?
• The tag uses the same auxiliary verb as the statement (here, "have") and a pronoun matching the subject ("musicians" becomes "they").

Step-by-step solution:

1. The main sentence is: "The musicians have not arrived from Sierra Leone." It is negative.
2. The auxiliary verb is have (present perfect tense).
3. Because the statement is negative, the tag must be positive: have.
4. The subject "the musicians" becomes the pronoun they.
5. The tag is therefore "have they?"

Checking the options:

• A. had they: wrong tense (past perfect).
• B. hadn't they: wrong tense and wrong polarity.
• C. haven't they: right tense, but negative. A negative statement cannot take a negative tag.
• D. have they: right tense, right pronoun, and positive polarity. ✔

Correct sentence: The musicians have not arrived from Sierra Leone, have they?

Exam tip: Remember "opposites attract": positive statement, negative tag; negative statement, positive tag. Always copy the auxiliary verb and tense from the main sentence. Watch for negative words like not, never, hardly, seldom, because they make the statement negative.