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‘I would rather go’ or ‘I would prefer to go’? When should you use them? Let’s find out!
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Warm up
Take a look at the pictures below and describe what you see. What do you like to do on a Friday night?
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Match the sentences below to the right pictures.
A “I would prefer to stay at home.”
B “I would rather go out.”
- Can you spot which word is used with ‘would prefer’ that is not used with ‘would rather’?
- Which form do verbs take after "would rather" and "would prefer”?
- Does ‘would rather’ and ‘would prefer’ mean the same thing?
Theory part 1
Exercise 1
Complete the transcript. Use ‘prefer’ or ‘rather’.
"Can we please eat?"
"No eating until the captain gets here, okay? Sorry"
"Don't apologize. I … (spend) Thanksgiving at your house than with my sister.”
Exercise 2
Add ‘to’ where necessary and answer those questions:
- Would you rather … travel to Canada or Norway?
- Would you prefer … eat pizza or pasta?
- Would you prefer … cook dinner today or eat out?
- Would you rather … swim in a pool full of honey or Nutella?
- Would you prefer … win a million dollars or inherit a villa in Sweden?
- Would you rather … learn German or learn how to play the violin?
- Would you prefer … adopt a cat or a dog?
- Would you prefer … watch Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings?
- Would you rather … spend an evening playing video games or watching a film?
- Would you rather … spend a night in a haunted house or alone in the forest?
More questions: link
Warm up - part 2
Let’s watch one more clip. Play the video below, start watching at 8:56 and listen closely to the grammatical structures used after ‘rather’.
“Take a seat”
”I’d rather … (stand)”
”I’d rather you … (sit)”
We already know which structure is correct in the first case. What about the second example?
- Which form of the verb ‘sit’ is used in the second example?
- What’s the difference between the two examples?
Theory part 2
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Exercise 3
Fill in the gaps and watch the video:
"I don't know. Sometimes when I share this sort of stuff, I think: "Do you really care like about the behind the scenes of the business?" But maybe you do. I don't know. Let me know if you care or if you'd rather I just … (talk) about what I'm up to.”
Exercise 4
Fill in the gaps and answer the questions.
- Would you rather your pet … (learn) a new trick or … (walk) itself?
- Would you rather your partner/best friend … (cook) dinner or … (clean) the house?
- Would you rather your mum … (have) a hard but well-paid job or a cushy and badly-paid one?
- Would you rather your boss … (give) you a 5% raise or … (leave) the office for a month?
- Would you rather your friends … (throw) a surprise party for you on your birthday or … (pay) for your holiday?
- Would you rather Johnny Depp … (play) Gandalf in LOTR or Hagrid in Harry Potter?
- Would you rather somebody … (give) you a back massage or foot massage?