Yes,
both are correct and there is very little difference in meaning
between the two. There is perhaps a slight suggestion that you might
be expecting the answer to be no, if you use the ...won't
you? question tag.
By
adding the tag to the imperative, open the door, you are
softening the instruction and turning it into a request.
Without it, it would sound very much like a command, so the tag
has a similar effect to the addition of please.
鈥ill
you/won't you?
The
following examples are all variations on the basic 鈥ill you/won't
you? theme and all show roughly the same degree of politeness.
But
note that the context of use is now the operating theatre and here
the 鈥on't you? tag would be inappropriate as the surgeon
would never expect the answer to be no:
Hand
me the scalpel, please.
Hand
me the scalpel, will you please?
Hand
me the scalpel, would you?
Hand
me the scalpel, could you please?
Could
you hand me the scalpel?
You can, of course, use 鈥ould
you? and 鈥ould
you? with your example, Gamil, in addition to 鈥ill
you? and 鈥on't
you?, but note that with the imperative we cannot use
鈥ouldn't
you? or 鈥ouldn't
you?.
Note
in the following example, the first suggestion is much more tentative
and less confident than the second:
Come
back to my place for a coffee, won't you? ~ No, I'm sorry,
I can't. I've got such an early start tomorrow that I have to
go to bed now.
Let's
go back to my place for coffee! ~ What a nice idea. A coffee and
a brandy would round off that delicious meal nicely.
negative
with affirmative and affirmative with negative
Leaving
aside imperative structures, the normal rule that operates with
tag questions is that you add a negative tag to a
positive statement and a positive tag to a negative
statement:
You would
go to see Phil in America if I gave you the money, wouldn't
you?
You couldn't
help me sort out these overtime schedules, could
you?
The
normal expectation when you add a negative tag to a positive
statement is that the answer will be yes. Similarly,
when you add a positive tag to a negative statement,
you expect the answer to be no:
They're
such a lively bunch, aren't they? ~ Yes, they are.
They've always got lots of energy.
You
don't remember meeting my uncle, do you? ~ No, I'm sorry.
I don't.
You
haven't fed the goldfish, have you? ~ No, I haven't.
You do it.
Excessive
speed was the cause of the accident, don't you agree? ~
Yes, I do.
However,
expectations are not always fulfilled:
You
haven't fed the goldfish, have you? ~ Well, actually, I have.
I fed them half an hour ago.
Excessive
speed was the cause of the accident, don't you agree? ~ Well,
I 'm not absolutely sure that I agree with you. He was driving
fast, but not faster than the speed limit allows.
same
way question tags
Here
we are making a positive statement to make a guess and then
adding the tag to ask if our assumption is correct. Study
the following:
This
is the final match of the season, is it? ~ Yes, that's
right.
So
you can run a mile in four minutes, can you?
She's
been training to be an anaesthetist, has she?
