概要：
1.would rather表示"宁愿"
一、后接动词原形 ：Would rather do（would rather not do）
二、后接完成式动词
三、后接从句
四、用于would rather…than…结构 宁愿……而不愿。
五、would much rather 用法
六、would rather/sooner和prefer/would prefer的区别
展开分析：
一、后接动词原形 ：would rather do（would rather not do）
例:
----Shall we go skating or stay at home?
----Which ___ do?
A. do you rather B. would you rather C. will you rather D. should you rather
答案B。本题考查would rather的用法，would rather do sth 意为"宁愿"，本题为疑问句，would 提前，所以选B。
Mr Li would rather not listen to rock music. 李先生不愿意听摇滚音乐。 If you’d rather be alone, we’ll all leave here. 如果你宁愿独自呆着，那我们都离开这儿。 He’d rather work in the countryside. 她宁可到农村去工作。 You would rather stay at home and do some reading this evening. 今晚你最好呆在家中读点书。
二、后接完成式动词
后接完成式动词，表示过去的想法，通常可译为“(本来)宁愿做某事”。如：
We went by sea, but I’ d rather have gone by air. 我们是乘船去的，可我本想乘飞机去。
三、后接从句与虚拟语气用法
1.would rather 后接虚拟语气的用法
在would rather后面所跟的从句中，也可用虚拟语气，表示愿望，意为“宁愿”、“但愿”。其形式为：
1 ) " would rather 主语 动词过去式"表示现在或将来的情况。例:
I would rather you went next Sunday．
我愿你下星期天去。
I’d rather you knew that now, than afterwards. 我宁愿你现在知道而不是以后。
Don’t come and see me today—I’d rather you came Tomorrow. 今天不要来看我——我希望你们明天来。
Tomorrow’s difficult. I’d rather yon came next weekend. 明天有困难。我希望你下周末来。
Ann said that Bill wanted to go alone but that she’d rather he went with a group. 安说比尔想一个人去，但她宁愿他跟一大群人一起去。
2 ) " would rather 主语 动词过去完成式"表示过去的情况。例：
I'd rather you had not given up the job then.
要是你当时不放弃那个工作就好了。
I’d rather he hadn’t told me about it 我宁愿他未告诉我这件事。
I’d rather she had asked me before borrowing the car. 我真希望她先问我一声再借请注意
注意1、 如果谈到过去的动作，也就是表示过去已经发生的事情在选择上不恰当。此时，主句一般为I would rather ,其（that）从句则用过去完成时。 例 Would rather you had not done that. 我真希望你没有做那件事。
注意2、如果只涉及主语本人而不涉及另一个人，则would rather之后不接that从句而接have done结构。 例 I would rather have gone to the theatre than stayed home night. 我真希望昨天晚上去看了戏而不是呆在家里。
He would rather be poor than have got money by dishonest methods． 他宁可穷也不愿意用不诚实的手段获取金钱。
Henry would rather that his girlfriend worked in the same department as he does．亨利希望他的女朋友和他在一个部门工作。车。
四、用于would rather…than…结构
此结构表示“宁愿(做)……而不愿(做)……” 在两者中进行取舍，表示“宁愿……而不愿……，与其……宁可……”的意思时，则可用would rather…than…或would…rather than…的句型
如：
I’d rather go hungry than eat that! 我宁可挨饿也不吃那种东西!
I’ d rather pay his fine for him than let him go to prison. 我宁愿替他交罚款，也不愿让他蹲监狱。
He would rather have the small one than (have) the large one. 他宁愿要小的那个，而不愿要大的。
I’d rather use my money than leave it lying in the bank. 我宁可把钱花了也不想存在银行里。
I’d rather have a room of my own. however small (it is), than share a room. 无论房间多么小，我宁愿一个人住一间，而不愿意与别人合住一个房间。
I would rather watch TV at home than go to the cinema. 我宁可在家看电视而不愿去看电影。
The children would walk there rather than take a bus. 孩子们宁愿步行去那里而不愿乘公共汽车。 请注意
1） would rather…than…/would…rather than…也可以颠倒为：rather than…would…。Would(rather)和than后都接不带to的动词不定式，若选用的动词相同，那么than 后的动词可以省略。 例 I would rather have noodles than rice. 我宁愿吃面条也不吃米饭。 He would rather drink wine than beer． 他喜欢喝红葡萄酒而不喜欢喝啤酒。 Rather than work in such bad condition, he would give up. 与其在这样差的条件下工作，他宁愿放弃。
2)使用would rather…than…句型时要注意“平行结构”，即在than 的前后要用两个同类的词或词组，如两个名词、两个不定式、两个介词短语等。 例 I would rather go to work by bike than by bus. 我宁愿骑自行车也不愿乘公共汽车去上班。 I would rather talk with his mother than with his father. 我宁愿和他妈说话而不愿和他爸说话。
3）在疑问句式中，would rather 与would rather…than…中的would要放在主语之前 例 Would you rather stay here or go home? 你愿意呆在这里，还是回家？
Which would you rather have, apples or bananas? 你喜欢吃苹果还是香蕉？
Would you rather read a novel than read a poem?你宁愿看小说而不愿朗读诗歌吗？
另外，.还有would sooner, had rather, had sooner都表示"宁愿"、"宁可"的意思。
If I have a choice, I had sooner not continue my studies at this school.
I would rather stay here than go home. = I would stay here rather than go home.
现在或将来：I would rather they did something about it instead of just talking about it.
现在或将来：Would you rather I wasn’t honest with you?
过去：I’d rather you hadn’t rung me at work.
五、．would much rather
当我们要强调时，会采用would much rather的用法。在口语中，我们会重读much以示强调。如：
I’d much rather make a phone call than send an email.
She’d much rather they didn’t know about what had happened.
六、would rather/sooner和prefer/would prefer的区别
would rather和would sooner之间一般没有区别，但经常接触到的是would rather。 例Tom would rather/sooner read than talk． 汤姆宁可读书而不愿谈天。 Tom prefers reading to talking．汤姆喜欢读书而不喜欢谈天。
请注意 1）would rather后跟不带to的不定式 than 不带 to的不定式，而prefer后跟动名词 to 动名词。有时prefer后面也可跟名词，而在would rather之后要求只带动词原形。 例 He prefers wine to beer．= He would rather drink wine than beer． 他喜欢喝红葡萄酒而不喜欢喝啤酒。 I prefer tennis to golf．= I’d rather play tennis than golf． 我喜欢打网球而不喜欢打高尔夫球。
请注意2）某些 prefer 名词的情况不能用 would rather完全确切地表达出来：He prefers dogs to cats．（他喜欢狗而不喜欢猫。）和 He would rather have dogs than cats．（他宁可养狗而不愿养猫。）很明显，这两句的意思并不完全相同。
请注意3） would rather 不带to的不定式有时可代替 would prefer 带 to的不定式。 例 I’d rather fly than go by sea．=I’d prefer to fly． 我宁愿乘飞机也不愿乘船。 这两个结构后面带名词时情况也一样： 例—Would you like some gin？ —I’d prefer a coffee．=I’d rather have coffee than gin． —您想喝点杜松子酒吗？ —我想喝点咖啡。/我想喝点咖啡，不想喝杜松子酒。
请注意 4）would rather/sooner和would prefer后面都可跟完成式，但后者带to。 例 We went by sea but I’d rather have gone by air=I’d prefer to have gone by air． 我们是乘船去的，可我本想乘飞机去。（我愿意乘飞机去，可我的愿望未能实现。）这和 would like 不定式的完成式有点相似，would like 带to 的不定式的完成式也表示未能实现的愿望。
