Use of would rather

Question

"I'd rather you took it and been honest with me."Is this sentence correct ?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Anonymous"I'd rather you took it and been honest with me."

My native ear says, "I'd rather you had taken it and [had] been honest with me."

We commonly omit the second "had."

Any attempt to justify the structure in grammatical terms would be a guess for me, at this point in the evening.

- A.

Edit. We also use, "I'd rather you take it and be honest with me." (subjunctive) I'd rather that you take it

Alternately, describing a present time situation, "I'd rather you took it and be honest with me." (right now)
This seems to me to be akin to the modern style of substituting past tense (took) for subjunctive.
I.E., "was" for "were."

Cool Breeze · Answer

AvangiAlternately, describing a present time situation, "I'd rather you took it and be honest with me." (right now)

Have a nightcap, Avangi!

(It's 10a.m. in Finland, so I'll skip this one.) When I attended school in the late 16th century, my English teacher taught me to say:I'd rather you took it and were honest with me. How does that sound to a native ear?

CB

Avangi · Answer

A-okay!

Cheer up. The sun will soon be over the yardarm.

- A.

Use of would rather

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