ESL Writing: Would Rather (handout)

This printable ESL lesson introduces students to several sample sentences using “would rather”.

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 Would Rather

Sentence Pattern:
I would rather A than B
I don’t want to B. I would rather A.

This means the same as “I want to A rather than B.”

• • I don’t want to go to Europe. I want to go to Australia.
    – I don’t want to go to Europe. I would rather go to Australia.
    – I would rather go to Australia than Europe.

• • My mom doesn’t like to work nights. She prefers to work mornings.
    – My mom doesn’t like to work nights. She would rather work mornings.
    – My mom would rather work mornings than nights.

Note: After “rather than”, you must add “-ing” to verbs. But when you use “would rather”, you do not need to add “-ing” to the verbs.

• • I went running rather than riding a bike.
  • I would rather go running than ride a bike.

• • John decided to play video games rather than doing his homework.
  • John would rather play video games than do his homework.

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Also: When you use “instead of” or “rather than”, you can talk about the past, present, or future. But when you use “would rather”, you are talking about how you (always) feel – so you use the present tense form of the verb with “would rather”.