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Old 29-Jun-2006, 05:30
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Default I’d sooner we didn’t

Hello,
Please could anybody give some garammatical comment on the phrase:
I’d sooner we didn’t go there now
Is it the same as
I’d rather we didn’t go there now. ?
Is it colloquial? What is its formal equivalent?
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Old 29-Jun-2006, 07:47
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Default Re: I’d sooner we didn’t

.
Would rather, would sooner, would as soon, had better, had best, etc, (followed by a bare infinitive verb) are classified as modal idioms. Although I suspect that some grammarians could place these in a hierarchy of formality, I don't think it is worth the effort; none are too casual to use in writing, it seems to me.
.
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Old 30-Jun-2006, 06:25
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Default Re: I’d sooner we didn’t

Thank you, Mister Micawber.
I'm afraid what you've written is somewhat off the point. My sentence is similar to the I wish construction, it uses the Subjunctive, not Infinitive. Do you mean to say I can only use the Infinitive here?
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