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"I had rather listen to my parents or get in trouble." --> I did not understand this because it says, "I had rather" which is past and ends in present "get in trouble" instead of "got in trouble"

Here is the link and it is the seventh example.

Also, is it appropriate if I say "I would rather listen to my parents or get in trouble"?

Alan Carmack
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Gt_R
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  • That's five questions, not one. You may need to provide evidence of some research before you get answers. – Mick Nov 05 '16 at 14:01
  • Read about "phrasal verbs" for "send out" and "have over". – TimR Nov 05 '16 at 14:03
  • @Mick Is it fine. I've cut down to 3. – Gt_R Nov 05 '16 at 14:12
  • Not really, since each question is a different issue. It is better if we deal with one issue at a time since we may be able to point you to duplicate questions with perfectly good answers. Having multiple questions in the same post just leads to confusion and your questions may well be of interest to others. – Mick Nov 05 '16 at 14:21
  • @Mick Ok, finally I hope, I am correct. – Gt_R Nov 05 '16 at 15:35
  • The sentence doesn't really make any sense. In particular, "I had rather" sounds wrong; we would usually said "I had better" or "I would rather". Where did you find this sentence? – stangdon Nov 05 '16 at 15:40
  • @ stangdon Here is the link and the seventh example : http://www.talkenglish.com/lessondetails.aspx?ALID=2022 Is it appropriate if I say "I would rather listen to my parents or get in trouble " – Gt_R Nov 05 '16 at 15:43
  • It may be easier for you to grasp the sentence to read it as "I'd rather listen to my parents, or get in trouble." Some sentences in the form of "X or Y" or "X and Y", where X and Y are clauses, can be understood as conditionals (e.g., Adapt or die.) – Damkerng T. Nov 06 '16 at 05:02
  • First off had is past tense form, but it refers to the present. See these related questions that talk about I had rather: Is 'rather + pronoun + root-verb' pattern possible? and I'd better get a quart. – Alan Carmack Nov 07 '16 at 19:07

1 Answers1

1

The problem with your sentence is that it's using

rather

which is a comparison, however, the rest of your sentence does not offer a comparison but a choice

something or something else

It's possible your sentence should maybe read

I'd rather listen to my parents than get in trouble. (comparison)

or

I'd better listen to my parents, or get in trouble. (choice)

or even

I'd rather listen to my parents then get in trouble. (sequencing)

Note that the citation of your example sentence has two other example sentences using the

rather ... than

construction. They also use "would rather" which might be more appropriate for your example than "had rather"

I would rather listen to my parents than get in trouble.

Peter
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