Good evening, please help me solve these questions:
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Hello, Mr. Mahmoud,
I see eye to eye with you according to what Michael Swan says in Practical English Usage, page 492:
"would rather: past tense with present or future meaning
* We can use would rather to say that a person would prefer somebody to do
something. We use a special structure with a past tense.
° would rather + subject + past tense
I'd rather you went home now.
Tomorrow's difficult I'd rather you came next weekend.
My wife would rather we didn't see each other any more.
Shall I open a window?~ I'd rather you didn't.
*A present tense or present subjunctive is possible (e.g. I'd rather he goes / he go
home now), but unusual.
* To talk about past actions, a past perfect tense is possible.
I'd rather you hadn't done that
° However, this kind of idea is usually expressed with I wish (see 630).
/ wish you hadn't done that.
* In older English, had rather was used in the same way as would rather. This
structure is still found in grammars, but it is not normally used."
so,
Will it be correct to say "
1. I wish you ........... anyone our secret plans until we are ready.
@ayman posted:Hello, Mr. Mahmoud,
I see eye to eye with you according to what Michael Swan says in Practical English Usage, page 492:
"would rather: past tense with present or future meaning
* We can use would rather to say that a person would prefer somebody to do
something. We use a special structure with a past tense.
° would rather + subject + past tense
I'd rather you went home now.
Tomorrow's difficult I'd rather you came next weekend.
My wife would rather we didn't see each other any more.
Shall I open a window?~ I'd rather you didn't.
*A present tense or present subjunctive is possible (e.g. I'd rather he goes / he go
home now), but unusual.* To talk about past actions, a past perfect tense is possible.
I'd rather you hadn't done that
° However, this kind of idea is usually expressed with I wish (see 630).
/ wish you hadn't done that.
* In older English, had rather was used in the same way as would rather. This
structure is still found in grammars, but it is not normally used."
Yes, I would choose 'didn't tell' for the first question and 'hadn't told' for the second one.
Longman Advanced Learner's Granmr:
We use wish if only +past perfect to express a regret about the past, a wish that something different had happened:
I wish that gou'd told me obout this before I booked the tickets. (= I regret the fact that you didn't tell me about this.)