What is the difference?

Question

What is the difference?Is there one that's incorrect?If I had known I was going to get my money stolen, I would rather have spent it.If I had known I was going to get my money stolen, I would have spent it.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

They're both grammatical. People often say these things. In my opinion they're illogical.
I'd say, "If I had known there was a chance my money would be stolen, I would have spent it."
(But then, if you had known, you probably would have simply protected it.)

I don't know if there's a correct way to say something which is illogical. I guess it depends on what you mean by "correct."

You should probably check your dictionary and decide exactly what you want to say.

Sometimes we use "rather" to state a preference, and sometimes to indicate a choice which we have made.
(It can also be used as a synonym for "somewhat.")

In retrospect, I would rather have spent the money than to have had it stolen.
(Looking back, I wish I had spent the money.)

You must first decide what you mean, and then address the problem of how to say it.

AnonymousIf I had known I was going to get my money stolen, I would rather have spent it.

"Rather" doesn't really add anything semantically to the sentence, although opinions may vary.

AnonymousIf I had known I was going to get my money stolen, I would have spent it.

You can add "instead" to the end of sentence and have the same effect --- which is really no effect at all.

What is the difference?

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