- •4 A/anand one
- •5 A little/a few and little/few
- •E a fear/fears,a hope/hopes,a suspicion/suspicions
- •H elder, eldest; older, oldest
- •Many and much
- •Sense: clever,foolish,idiotic*,intelligent,sensible,silly,stupid.
- •Due, due to, owing to, certain, sure, bound, confident
- •Afraid (of), ashamed (of), sorry (for or about)
- •Far, farther/farthest and further/furthest
- •Much, more, most
- •Somehow,anyhow
- •Somehow,anyhow
- •Away, everywhere, here, nowhere, somewhere, there etc.
- •Always, continually, frequently,occasionally,often, once,twice,periodically,repeatedly, sometimes, usuallyetc.
- •D never, ever
- •Fairly and rather
- •Hardly, scarcely, barely
- •5 All, each, every, both, neither, either, some, any, no, none
- •Neither, either
- •Neither . . . Nor, either ... Or
- •51 Someone, somebody, something,anyone, anybody,anything,no one, nobody,nothing
- •Someone/somebody/something,anyone/anybody/anything,noone/nobody/nothing, everyone/everybody/everything and the adverbs somewhere, anywhere, nowhere,everywhere can be followed by else:
- •One . . . Another/other (s), some . . . Other (s)
- •One another and each other
- •Who,whom
- •Which,what
- •Use of they/them/theirwith neither/either, someone/everyone/no one etc.
- •A These are: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves,
- •Defining relative clauses
- •Relative pronouns used in defining relative clauses The forms are as follows:
- •85 Whoever, whichever, whatever,whenever, wherever, however
- •Whoever,whichever, whatever,whenever, wherever, however
- •By, before
- •On time,intime,ingoodtime
- •On arrival,onarriving,onreaching,ongettingto
- •At the beginning/end, in the beginning/end, at first/at last
- •91 Time: from, since, for, during a from, since and for
- •B during and for
- •To and till/until
- •At, in; in, into; on, onto
- •In and into
- •On and onto
- •Above, over, under, below,beneath etc.
- •D beside, between,behind,in front of, opposite
- •The most important of these are above, about, across,along,before, behind,below, besides, by, down, in, near, off, on, over, past, round, since, through, under, up:
- •Am,is, are,have,had,will and would
- •11 Be, have, do
- •There is/are, there was/wereetc.
- •Can/amable,could/wasableA can and beable
- •Have to
- •15 Must,have,willandshould
- •Interrogative
- •Ifandincase
- •Agree that . . . Expresses anopinion.
- •A assume, believe, consider, feel, know, suppose, understand
- •A can,do, may, must,shall,will:
- •С feel, hear, see and watch:
- •1 With appear, happen,pretend,seem
- •D advise,allow,permit,recommend Eitneeds/requires/wants
- •D With advise,allow,permit,recommend
- •Regret,remember, forget
- •Go on, stop,try,used(to)
- •A catch/find:
- •Go, come, spend, waste,be busy a goand come
- •Speak to etc.:
- •В will/would you* (please):
- •В will/would/could you? would youliketo?
- •С if I were you I should/would:
- •29 Care, like, love, hate, prefer, wish
- •294 Care and like
- •В wouldcare andwouldlike
- •By would enjoy:
- •297 Wouldrather/soonerandprefer/would prefer
- •Wish,want andwouldlike
- •В let him/them
- •С let there be
- •Must andneedn't
- •Must not
- •С needn't
- •Besides, however,nevertheless, otherwise,so,therefore, still,yet, though
- •For and because
- •As meaningwhen/whileorbecause/since
- •As, when,whileusedto meanalthough,but,seeingthat
- •337 Incase andlest a in case
- •Be goingto:
- •These papers
- •Child up)
297 Wouldrather/soonerandprefer/would prefer
There is no difference between would rather and would sooner, but would rather is more often heard.
A would rather/sooner is followed by the bare infinitive when the subject of would rather/sooner is the same
as the subject of the following action:
Tom would ratherread than talk.
1 would rather/sooner + infinitive can be used instead of prefer + gerund for present actions:
Tom prefersreading to talking.
Note: would rather + infinitive + than + infinitive, but prefer + gerund + to + gerund.
prefer can also be followed by a noun, but would rather always requires a verb:
He prefers wine to beer =
He wouldratherdrinkwinethanbeer. 1 prefertennisto golf=
I'dratherplay tennisthangolf.
Some statements with prefer + noun have no exact would rather
equivalent: He prefers dogs to cats and He would rather have dogs than cats are not exactly the same.
o would rather + infinitive cannot express preferences in the past, so the past equivalent of Tom would rather read than talk would be Tom preferred reading to talking/liked reading better than talking. But see 4 below.
3 would rather + infinitive can also be used instead of would prefer + infinitive:
I'dratherfly thango by sea/I'dpreferto fly.
Note that with would prefer, only the preferred action is mentioned; see above. If, therefore, we want to mention both actions we must used would rather. Similarly with nouns:
Would youlikesomegin? ~ I'dprefer a coffeeor
I'dratherhave coffeethangin.
4 Both would rather/sooner and would prefer can be followed by the perfect infinitive:
We went by sea but I'd rather have gone by air/I'd prefer to have gone by air. (I wanted to go by air, but didn't get my wish.)
This is somewhat similar to would like + perfect infinitive, which expresses an unfulfilled wish. (See 296 D.)
В Subject + would rather/sooner is followed by subject + past tense (subjunctive) when the two subjects are different:
Shall I give you a cheque? ~ I'd rather you paid cash. Note the use of would rather + subject + didn't for a negative preference:
Would youlikehim to paint it? ~ No,I'dratherhedidn't (paint it).
Ann wants to tell Tom, but I'd rather she didn't (tell him). prefer, however, like like, can take object + infinitive:
I'dpreferyouto pay cash. I'dpreferhim not to paint it. I'dprefer her not to tell Tom.
298 More examples of preference
A / likehot weatherbetterthan cold =
I prefer hot weatherto cold =I'drather/soonerhave hot weatherthancold.Ilikeskiingbetterthanskating= I preferskiingto skating= I'drather/soonerskithanskate.
В / liked playing in matchesbetterthan watching them =
I preferred playing matches to watching them. (would rather/sooner could not be used here.)
С Would you liketo starttodayorwould you ratherwait/would you
preferto waittilltomorrow? —I'drathergo today(than waittilltomorrow).I'drathernot wait.Or I'dpreferto starttoday.I'dprefernot to wait.I'dratherdeliveritby handthanpost it.Hesayshe'd rathergoto prisonthan pay thefine.I'dratherpay hisfineforhim thanlet him gotoprison. rather than . . . would + infinitive is possible in formal English: Ratherthanlet him goto prisonIwouldpay hisfinemyself.
D Doyouwant Annto repairit herself? ~ I'dprefer herto ring/I'd
rather she rang the electrician or I'drathershedidn'ttry to repairitherself.They wantto campin my garden but I'dratherthey didn't.I'dratherthey campedby theriver.
He usually has a publunch,but she'd preferhim to come homefor ameal/she'd ratherhecamehomeforlunch. She'd ratherhedidn't spend money in pubs.