Confusing Verbs #3: would rather & had better

First things first. Both «would rather» & «had better» always work as auxiliary verbs. Therefore, they don’t have any meaning on their own, without another verb. Also, in spoken English, «would» and «had» are usually contracted as «‘d» Let’s take a look at the following examples:

• would rather – meaning: (would) prefer (PREFERENCE)

POSITIVE: I’d rather be at home doing nothing than working without getting paid. (MEANING: (would) prefer – preference)

NEGATIVE: I‘d rather not eat out tonight, if you don’t mind. 

QUESTION FORM: Would you rather watch an action film or a drama?

• had better – meaning: ought to / should (STRONG ADVICE, even THREAT)

POSITIVE: It’s getting late. I‘d better get going. 

NEGATIVE: You’d better not forget your assignment. You’ll be in trouble if you do! 

QUESTION FORM: Had I better speak to him now, or wait until things cool down a bit?

Simple Rules

As we can draw from the examples,
– «Would rather» and «had better» are followed by a bare infinitive (=without to).
– When we want to use the negative form, we place «not» right before the bare infinitive, NOT after «had».
– For questions, we simply invert «would» or «had» and the subject, and leave the rest the same.

Typical mistakes

Some typical mistakes include:
– Not knowing what «‘d» stands for, «would» or «had».
– Using «wouldn’t» or «hadn’t» instead of «not» right before the bare infinitive.
– Using «had better» for obligation, instead of «must» or «have to»

Summary

For a more in-depth explanation, follow these links: «would rather» & «had better»

If you enjoyed this short article, don’t forget to share and comment!

Thank you, and Keep Smiling! 😀