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Hela Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

would rather

0Dear teachers,02br
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001) If "would rather" is used with a single pronoun, is the form of the verb that follows it a bare infinitive or a present subjunctive ? 02br
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00e.g. 01font00He02font00 would rather BE alone. 02br
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002) If "would rather" is used with 2 pronouns, should the form of the verb that follows it be in the present subjunctive or the past subjunctive ? 02br
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00e.g. 01font00I02font00'd rather 01font00you02font00 00LEAVE / LEFT now. 02br
01font00She02font00'd rather 01font00they02font00 STAY / STAYED. 02br
01font00We02font00'd rather 01font00they02font00 LIVE / LIVED close by. 02br
00What would 01font00you02font00 rather 01font00I02font00 00DO / DID ? 02br
02br
00Thanks a lot, 02br
00Hela0-
  

Top answer

1blockquote 01cite 10Hela12cite 101) If "would rather" is used with a single pronoun, is the form of the verb that follows it a bare infinitive or a present subjunctive ? g. 12blockquote 10The constructs like "would rather", "had rather/better", would/had sooner" have their origin in the Old English's dative construction using a subjunctive past: "Him waere better that he naefre geboren naere" (=He would rather not have been born).

— Paco2004

  • 1blockquote 01cite 10Hela12cite 101) If "would rather" is used with a single pronoun, is the form of the verb that follows it a bare infinitive or a present subjunctive ?
  • g.
  • 12blockquote 10The constructs like "would rather", "had rather/better", would/had sooner" have their origin in the Old English's dative construction using a subjunctive past: "Him waere better that he naefre geboren naere" (=He would rather not have been born).
  • So, historically speaking, "be" in "He would rather be alone" might bare a sense of subjunctive present.
  • 02br 00This usage of "would rather bare infinitive" is a little different from the usage of "would rather + that clause in subjunctive mood" below described.
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16 Answers
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1blockquote
01cite10Hela12cite101) If "would rather" is used with a single pronoun, is the form of the verb that follows it a bare infinitive or a present subjunctive ? 10 e.g. 11font10He12font10 would rather BE alone.12blockquote
10The constructs like "would rather", "had rather/bett
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0Hello Hela, 02br
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00When 01font00"02font01font00rather"02font00 is used in different contexts, it's behaves differently. It’s 01font00“rather02font01font00”02font00 difficult to lay down a set of rule
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0 1) bare infinitive02br
00 2) past subjunctive, but many speakers choose present subjunctive02br
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00 CJ0-
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0Thank you all very much! 02br
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00CJ, I'd like to know why some people would use the 01b00present02b00 subjunctive instead of the 01b00past02b00. And is the present subjunctive used only in spoken language and not in writing or is it standard English too?02br
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00How would you analyse the 2 pronouns in a
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0 Whether we are writing an essay or a story, we want to be able to depict the characters, scenes, setting and events as clearly as possible. In doing so, past and past perfect tense are often used to described past events. Different writers has different styles. Given a topic in a class of 20 students, we most likely will have 20 different versions of the same story. How one would choose to tel
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0 Hela,02br
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00 I can't speak for other people! I don't know why they would use present (subj) instead of past! Maybe the idiom itself should be considered as only weakly governing the following verb, similar to "if". Recall that "would rather" has a sort of double identity: It is an idiom for "prefer" (with a present tense meaning), and it contains "would", whi
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0I see what you mean Jim. And so you would also use the subjunctive after "prefer" in such a construction : "I prefer THAT he STA01u00Y02u00"02br
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00Is "rather" an adverb in cases 1 and 2 ?02br
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001) I'd 01b00rather02b00 be alone = I would be alone, preferably. (?)02br
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002) I'd
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0 Hela,02br
00 Yes. The constuction is "... prefer(s) that he stay".02br
00 My dictionary lists "rather" as only an adverb, no other part of speech.02br
00 Nevertheless, it does no harm to understanding, and may actually help, if you consider 01i00 'd rather02i00 as an idiom acting as a verb.02br
00 Analyzing it strictly
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0OK, but what confuses me is the choice between:02br
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00a) I would rather You BE here early02br
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00b) I would rather You WERE here early.02br
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00Do they have EXACTLY the same meaning ? If yes, which one is grammatically correct in academic / standard English?02br
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00Kind regards0-
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01. I 01font00would rather be02font00 on the beach than 01b00getting 02b00stuck in the office. 02br
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002. I 01font00would rather be02font00 on the beach than 01b00get02b00 stuck in the office. 02br
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00Sentence #1 i
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