Be 3-0 down

Question

"One thing I can't be criticised for is the togetherness and I have no regrets on the effort we have made. We would rather not be 3-0 down. Decisions, in hindsight, we would have
Cook on what went wrong for England in India - Rediff Cricket
Please explain the grammatical function of "be" in the context.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

JigneshbharatiPlease explain the grammatical function of "be" in the context.

The verb is "would be."

Cool Breeze · Answer

Jigneshbharatican't be criticised

Be is a present infinitive used as a passive auxiliary verb. An infinitive is required by the modal verb can.

Jigneshbharatiwould rather not be

Be is a present active infinitive. The modal auxiliary would requires an infinitive.

CB

CalifJim · Answer

JigneshbharatiPlease explain the grammatical function of "be" in the context.

It's always difficult to interpret what you mean by "grammatical function". "be" is part of the complement of the idiom "would rather". Here's a more general explanation.

The idiom "would rather" (with or without "not") is always followed by a verb in its plain form. "would rather" means "prefer to".

We don't like the food. We would rather starve. ~ We don't like the food. We prefer to starve.
The girls would rather wear their old sweaters. ~ The girls prefer to wear their old sweaters.
Roberta would rather not spend that money. ~ Roberta prefers not to spend that money.

CJ

Be 3-0 down

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