[General] I would rather

[Anil Giria]

I would rather drink water than soda. It’s much healthier.

I would drink water than soda. It's much healthier.

What's the difference between these sentences?

 

[tedmc]

No. 2 is not correct. You cannot separate "rather...than".
You can say: I prefer to drink water to soda.

 

[Rover_KE]

That is incorrect, Ted.

'I prefer drinking water to soda.'

 

[BobK]

:up: I think (though I'm not checking at this time of night ;-) ) there used (2/300 years ago) to be two ways of expressing this sort of thing: I would sooner do A than B, and I had rather do A than B . The 2nd of these was naturally reduced to 'I'd rather...'; and the 'sooner' version died out (but still makes its presence felt in the modern use of 'would rather')

But the discussion is moot, as Rover's version is perfectly adequate.

b

 

[GoesStation]

:up: I think (though I'm not checking at this time of night ;-) ) there used (2/300 years ago) to be two ways of expressing this sort of thing: I would sooner do A than B, and I had rather do A than B . The 2nd of these was naturally reduced to 'I'd rather...'; and the 'sooner' version died out (but still makes its presence felt in the modern use of 'would rather')

But the discussion is moot, as Rover's version is perfectly adequate.

b

"I'd (for 'I would') sooner" is a common synonym for "I'd rather" here in southwest Ohio. My wife tells me that "I'd sooner" sounds "a little Southern" to her, that is, more like southern American English. Our dialect preserves a number of features that have been absent from most flavors of English for some time.

"Hadn't you rather" seems natural to me, too, but I wouldn't say "I had rather"; I'd either say "I'd rather" or "I would rather."

 

[probus]

I would drink water than soda.

I agree with Ted. That sentence is grammatically wrong.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think it would be grammatical if 'not' was used instead of 'than'.

 

[Tarheel]

Perhaps:

I would rather drink water than soda.