Had better

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Tdol

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Does anyone really understand this structure? To be honest, it escapes me. ;-)
 

RonBee

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I wouldn't use had there. Some do, but it doesn't change the meaning.

:)
 

Tdol

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In BE, the omission of 'had' would be regarded as an error by some. It is certainly colloquial here. ;-)
 

tuangpi

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'Had better' is used to say what is the best thing to do in a situation that's happening now.

You'd better go home now or your girlfriend will leave you for ever. :lol:
 

silversea

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tuangpi said:
'Had better' is used to say what is the best thing to do in a situation that's happening now.

You'd better go home now or your girlfriend will leave you for ever. :lol:
hey Tuangpi, U have had such an experience :roll:
 

Isra

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for example: I had better to live now....:-|
 

Tdol

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Isra, don't use 'to' after had better:
It's better to live for the moment.
You had better live for the moment.
;-)
 
M

matilda

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sorry, in voting, i made a mistake.
i wanted to vote the second choice . in my opinion, b is correct, and a is incorrect
 

Tdol

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No
You'd better not do it. (present/future)
You'd better not have done it. (past)
 

whitemoon

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You hadn't better do it.
This sentence is to check somebody whether he/she can make negative sentence with "had better" or not. I don't know whether this sentence is in present time or past time. Please tell me. Does this sentence show present tense or past tense?
 

SunnyDay

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(Technically, the "not" in "hadn't" should be after "better", but I'll ignore that for now.) It's present, because you're telling someone not to do something. Past tense (as in, telling someone they shouldn't have done something in the past) would be:
You hadn't better not have done it.

But that's a mouthful and no one would say that anyway; they would shorten it to:
You better not have done it, or You had better not have done it.
 

galaxy

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COULD you give me a comprehensive explanation about the usage of the modal had better ? please

in the light of my present knowledge , ı say b , had better.
 
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