Whenever I have time I like to read but I prefer not to read in the evening. We make comparisons using to or rather than , not just than :. A lot of young people prefer computer games to football. Not: A lot of young people prefer computer games than football. Outsets and onsets!
Hate , like , love and prefer Would like. Typical errors. Popular searches 01 Adverbs and adverb phrases: position 02 Other , others , the other or another? Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits. Word of the Day have a heart of gold.
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Comparison: adjectives bigger , biggest , more interesting Comparison: clauses bigger than we had imagined Comparison: comparisons of equality as tall as his father As … as.
Adverbs Adverb phrases Adverbs and adverb phrases: position Adverbs and adverb phrases: typical errors Adverbs: forms Adverbs: functions Adverbs: types Comparison: adverbs worse, more easily Fairly Intensifiers very, at all Largely Much , a lot , lots , a good deal : adverbs Pretty Quite Rather Really Scarcely Very. Above or over? Across , over or through? Advice or advise? Affect or effect?
All or every? All or whole? Allow , permit or let? Almost or nearly? Alone , lonely , or lonesome? Along or alongside?
Already , still or yet? Also , as well or too? Alternate ly , alternative ly Although or though? Altogether or all together? Amount of , number of or quantity of? Any more or anymore? Anyone , anybody or anything? Apart from or except for? Arise or rise? Around or round? Arouse or rouse? As or like? As , because or since?
As , when or while? Been or gone? Begin or start? Beside or besides? Between or among? Born or borne? Bring , take and fetch Can , could or may? Classic or classical?
Come or go? Consider or regard? English - South-East England. I think your original statement of the difference is basically right: 'I prefer' is most usual in general situations, 'I would prefer' on specific occasions. You can say 'I prefer' on a specific occasion too; to me it sounds a bit brusque - I prefer this, so that's what I'm going to do - whereas 'would' as so often softens it, makes it more polite and tentative. As MilkyBarKid and entangledbank have said, the difference is to do with politeness.
The construction with 'would' makes it into a kind of conditional, with 'if it were up to me' implied. But prefer can certainly be used in a specific situation. You might be thinking of like which works a little differently from prefer and I think it is indeed the case that you should not use like for specific situations. A: The water's on the boil, dear. Tea or coffee? B: I prefer tea. B: I like tea. B: I'd like tea. English US , Danish, bilingual.
Hi morningtrain, I completely agree with everything said so far regarding the differences between I would prefer and I prefer. Your original sentence, "It's freezing outside. In my opinion the best alternative is, therefore, I would prefer. This means that, as a general guideline , she would rather drink tea than any other beverage.
Context can also imply a more specific comparison:. Given the context of coffee, this means that she, as a general guideline , prefers tea over coffee. This means that, in this particular instance , she would rather drink tea than a different beverage. This does not imply that she always prefers tea, just that she would prefer tea in this particular instance.
Andrew : Yeah, but she likes chocolate stouts almost as much. She would probably prefer to get chocolate stout rather than overpay for bad wine. As stated, Beatrice in general prefers wine, but specific to this scenario she would rather have an chocolate stout. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.
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Improve this question. Tom Tom When talking of her general tastes, we can say "She prefers to drink tea". In a particular situation when we are asked what kind of drink to prepare for her, we might say "She would prefer to drink tea" i.
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