高手进！！！would rather和had rather的区别

你提出的五组短语都含有“宁愿/宁可”的意思，它们分属两种不同的情况。

一、would rather … (than) 和had rather… (than) 属于一种情况，都表示“宁可…（也不）”

1、would rather是一种比较正式的说法。如果主语是第一人称，would 还可以用should取代。Would/should rather有以下几种用法：

1）Would/should rather + 动词原形，如：
* I should/would rather go to the movies. 我宁愿去看电影。
* I /should/would rather have the small one than the big one. 我宁愿要小的, 不要大的。
* He would rather go out tonight, if you don't mind. 如果你不介意的话, 他宁愿今晚出去。

2）Would/should rather + 表示虚拟的从句，如：
* I should/would rather you should stay at home. 我宁愿让你呆在家里。(should可以省略) ——对现在的虚拟
* They would rather the matter were not made public. 他们宁愿这件事没有公开。——对过去的虚拟

3）Would/should rather … than …，用来表示“宁可…也不…”，如：
* They would rather rent the house than buy it outright. 他们宁可租这幢房子，也不愿直接买下它。
* He would rather sacrifice his life than see damage done to state property. 他宁可牺牲自己的生命, 也不肯看到国家财产受到损失。
* He would rather die than yield. 他宁死不屈。

此外，rather 还可以用 sooner 替换。
* I had sooner stay home than dance. 我宁愿呆在家里也不愿去跳舞。
* He would sooner walk today. 他宁愿今天走。

2、had rather 是一种与 would rather 同义的非正式用法。有人认为这是由于对I'd rather这种缩略形式的误解所致（would 和 had 都可以缩略为 ‘d），也有人认为这是 had better 或 had best 中 had 虚拟用法的延用。

* She had rather her daughter attended a public school. 她希望自己的女儿能上公立学校。
* They had rather go to the movies. 他们宁愿去看电影。
* I had rather be dead than be a slave. 我宁可死去，也不愿意当奴隶。
* The boy had rather have the small one than the big one. 那男孩宁愿要小的也不要大的。
* He would rather play than work. 他宁可玩耍也不愿意工作。

二、prefer to...rather than...

该结构与would/had rather … than表述的意思相同，但语法的结构不同，如：

* They would rather rent the house than buy it outright. （也可以用 They would rent the house rather than buy it outright）译文见上
主语：They
谓语动词：would rather rent ——情态动词 + 动词原形
宾语：the house
比较状语：than buy it outright.

* They prefer to rent the house rather than buy it outright.（也可以用 They prefer to rent the house instead of buying it outright）译文见上
主语：They
谓语动词：prefer
宾语：to rent the house
并列宾语：rather than buy it outright ——并列连词 + 省略 to 的不定式

因此这两种结构可以相互改写，如：

* He would rather sacrifice his life than see damage done to state property. 译文见上
——He prefers to sacrifice his life rather than see damage done to state property.
——He prefers to sacrifice his life instead of seeing damage done to state property.

* He preferred to die instead of stealing. 他宁愿死也不愿意偷窃。
——He would rather die than steal.
——He would die rather than steal.