They have been informed of his departure ...?

Analyze the question

This is a question tag (tag question). You must add a short question at the end of a statement. The tag must match the subject and the auxiliary verb of the main sentence, and it must have the opposite polarity: a positive statement takes a negative tag.

Explain the concept

Rules for question tags:

1. Find the subject and replace it with a pronoun (they, he, it, and so on).
2. Find the auxiliary (helping) verb in the statement. Use the same one in the tag.
3. If the statement is positive, the tag is negative. If the statement is negative, the tag is positive.

Solution

Statement: "They have been informed of his departure..."

• Subject: They, so the tag pronoun is they.
• Auxiliary verb: have (present perfect passive: have been informed).
• The statement is positive, so the tag is negative: haven't.
• Tag: haven't they?

Full sentence: "They have been informed of his departure, haven't they?"

Checking the other options

• B. hadn't they uses the past perfect, which does not match the present perfect "have".
• C. wasn't it and D. isn't it use the pronoun "it", which does not refer to "they".

Answer: A. haven't they

Tip: In a tag question, copy the first auxiliary verb and flip its polarity. For "have been", use "have" and make it negative: "haven't." Ignore the later verbs like "been informed."