Was

Hi,

have a problem in understanding the sentence:

"You might be in jail, but he'd rather her money was."

(it's some pleading deal between a cop and a criminal)

I don't understand how "was" fits, and what is the meaning exactly.

Grammatically, it means

"You might be in jail, but he'd rather her money was in jail."



I

I agree with Clive.

My only thought about way this has been said is, that the speaker that stating that she means more to him than her money. It wouldn't be my way of expressing this and without the context its very difficult to understand the meaning.

Hello,

In the sentence:

"You might be in jail, but he'd rather her diamond was."

I don't understand the second part of the sentence, and how "was" fits?

( it's some pleading deal between a cop and a prisoner)

Thanks.

Anonymoushow "was" fits?

When a second clause ends with a form of be (is, are, was, were, ...), assume it has the same completion as the first clause.

You might be in jail, but he'd rather her diamond was in jail.

Compare:

Karen is not talkative, but Bill is. = Karen is not talkative, but Bill is talkative

Now I understand, she wants the diamond will be in her safe like in jail.

but why "was" instead of "will"

"locked up" would be better than "in jail" if that's the meaning intended.

You might be locked up, but he'd rather her diamond was.

The simplest explanation for the use of was instead of will is that in English we use the past tense after would rather -- not the future (will). Technically it's a subjunctive, and more formally was is ch

Thank you!!!

That's how i read it CJ. I thought that he was trying to state he would prefer her to her money/diamonds!