had and better

[Nightmare85]

Hello,
I'm very confused about better.
If I correctly understood all sentences should contain had:
You had better stay out of my way.
I had better send you a screenshot.
And you had better learn some English.
We had better go home.

The problem is that almost all guys write "We'd, You'd" etc. which is sometimes confusing

A while ago I posted the sentence:
This one better work to spec.
A member said it has to be:
This one had better work to spec.
That's why I thought it's the same for the other sentences.

Of course I know that I don't need had in such sentence:
I read better than he does.

Cheers!

[sarat_106]

Hello,
I'm very confused about better.
If I correctly understood all sentences should contain had:
You had better stay out of my way.
I had better send you a screenshot.
And you had better learn some English.
We had better go home.

The problem is that almost all guys write "We'd, You'd" etc. which is sometimes confusing

A while ago I posted the sentence:
This one better work to spec.
A member said it has to be:
This one had better work to spec.
That's why I thought it's the same for the other sentences.

Of course I know that I don't need had in such sentence:
I read better than he does.

Cheers!

We use ‘had better’ for giving specific advice or a threat to some one. We do not use ‘had better’ for general things, except in negative form,
You can say:
This one had better not work to spec.(but it makes no sense)
I had better not work to spec. (It works)

[2006]

[QUOTE=Nightmare85;574569]Hello,
I'm very confused about better.
If I correctly understood all sentences should contain had:
You had better stay out of my way.
I had better send you a screenshot.
And you had better learn some English.
We had better go home.

Actually, at least in oral English, it is common to leave out the "had".
You better stay out of my way!

[TheParser]

***NOT A TEACHER***

Nightmare, good morning.

Since I know that you are a very serious student of English, I wish to emphasize what the other posters told you: don't use "had better" until you really understand English.

If you see a guy blocking the doorway, NEVER say: Hey! You had better move! That means: If you don't move, I'm going to move you!!!