would rather的用法(美国英语中多用had rather )

一、概述。

1.含义。“宁愿/可,更/最好,还是…为好”。

2.用法。常+V原,常省略为’d rather,表优先选择的一种方式 。无人称,数,词性,时态变化,所有的人称情况均用would rather.

3.否定形式。would rather not do sth。例: Mr Li would rather not listen to rock music

4.would /had在此决无“过去”之意，它是一个情态助动词。

If you’d rather be alone, we’ll all leave here. 如果你宁愿独自呆着，那我们都离开这儿。 He’d rather work in the countryside. 她宁可到农村去工作。

二、扩展。

1.在两者中取舍,表“宁愿……而不愿……/与其……宁可……”时，则可用would rather…than…或would…rather than…句型.

例: I would rather watch TV at home than go to the cinema.

The children would walk there rather than take a bus.

2.也可以颠倒为：rather than…would… 例：Rather than work in such bad condition, he would give up

3.Would(rather)和than后都接不带to的动词不定式，若选同一动词,那么than 后的动词可以省略。

例: I would rather have noodles than rice.

4.要注意“平行结构”，即在than 的前后要用两个同类的词或词组，如两个n、两个不定式、两个介短等。

例: I would rather go to work by bike than by bus.

@I would rather talk with his mother than with his father.

5.在疑问句式中，短语中的would要放在主语之前。

例: Would you rather stay here or go home?

@Which would you rather have, apples or bananas?

三、would rather+从句，常用的虚拟语气句型,谓语一般用过去时来表示现在或将来。 其意为“宁愿……,还是…… 好些”“一个人宁愿另一个人做某事”。

引导从句的that常省略。在谈到过去的动作时，谓语则用过去完成时。

例: John wants to see me today. I would rather he came to tomorrow than today. 句中came不是表示过去而是表示将来.

注意:如果谈到过去的动作，也就是表示过去已经发生的事情在选择上不恰当。

此时，主句一般为I had rather ,其（that）从句则用过去完成时。 例 Would rather you had not done that.

@如果只涉及主语本人而不涉及另一个人，则would rather之后不接that从句而接have done结构。

例: I would rather have gone to the theatre than stayed home night.

四、would rather/sooner和prefer/would prefer的区别。

would rather和would sooner之间一般没有区别，但经常接触到的是would rather。 例:Tom would rather/sooner read than talk./ Tom prefers reading to talking．

注意:would rather后跟不带to的不定式+than+不带 to的不定式，而prefer后跟动名词+to+动名词。

有时prefer后面也可跟名词，而在would rather之后要求只带动词原形。

例: He prefers wine to beer．= He would rather drink wine than beer．