"I'd rather he be angry than grumpy."

Question

Is this sentence grammatically correct?"I'd rather he be angry than grumpy."But as far as I know, past tense verbs follow the 'would rather' phrase, so I am really confused now.ex) I'd rather you went home now.Could you help me out with this issue. Thank you so much and take good care.

Canadian45 · Accepted Answer

Anonymous...Is this sentence grammatically correct?" I'd rather he be angry than grumpy." It's correct, but some would say 'was angry'.

But as far as I know, past tense verbs follow the 'would rather' phrase, so I am really confused now. That's a bad habit that some or perhaps many people do follow. But you don't have to follow it.
'I would rather miss the exam than fail it.'

ex) I'd rather you went home now. You can also say 'I'd rather you go home now.'

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you so much and then how about meanings of the sentences?

Canadian45 · Answer

The meanings are understood to be the same, but it makes (more) sense to use the present-tense verb. After all, the sentences are talking about something that hasn't yet happened.

Fivejedjon · Answer

I'd rather he were angry angry rather than grumpy . This is fine. We use the so-called past subjunctive to denote that the situation desired is counterfactual. These are similar constructions:

I'd be happier if he were angry.
I wish he were angry.

Canadian45 · Answer

"I'd rather he be angry than grumpy."
"I'd rather he were angry angry rather than grumpy."

To me, the above sentences are not directly comparable; they should refer to different situations. The second one means that he presenntly is grumpy, but you would prefer that he were angry instead of grumpy.

The first sentence should refer only to the future; that's how I would interpret it. If you want the second sentence's meaning, use only the second sentence.

"I'd rather he be angry than grumpy."

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