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Good evening, please help me solve these questions:

1. I’d rather you ........... anyone our secret plans until we are ready.
a. hadn’t told b. didn’t tell c. don’t tell d. B & C
2. I’d rather you ........... anyone our secret plans until we were ready.
a. hadn’t told b. didn’t tell c. don’t tell d. A & B
My answers are : 1 - d        /       2 - a
Thanks
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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."

@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.)

And here's an extract from Oxford Guide to English Grammar. Screenshot_20230522_141254

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Last edited by ayman

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