Speaking English - How to talk about what you want - Expressing Preference

Hey, this is Alex.

Thanks for clicking and welcome to this lesson on preferences and how to show preferences.

Okay, so what are preferences in general?

Well, preferences refer to things you like better than other things.

So if someone asks you, "Do you like reading books or do you like watching TV?"

If you want to make a general statement, you would say, "I prefer books."

You can also say, "I prefer reading books.

I prefer to read books."

So we have three different statements here to show preference, to show that we like something

better than something else.

So we have, "I prefer," "I would prefer," and "would rather."

So it's "prefer," "would prefer," and "would rather," and they always begin with the subject.

Okay, so let's talk about "prefer."

So if you say, "I prefer books," it just means, in general, in most situations, you like books

compared with watching television, as we mentioned, okay?

So you can say this in three different ways.

One, you can follow subject, prefer, with a noun.

You can also say, "I prefer a book."

You can say, "I prefer reading books," so this is a gerund.

You can say, "I prefer reading a book," as well.

Or you can say, "I prefer to read books."

You can say, "books," or, "I prefer to read a book," as well.

So this is a general statement, a general preference that you are stating.

Okay, what about, "I would prefer?"

So what is the difference between these two?

Well, like we mentioned, "I prefer" is used in a general sense to talk about your general

preference for something, okay?

So most times, you like something better than something else.

When you say, "I would prefer," it means, in this situation, in this instance, I would

prefer this, okay?

So if you go to a restaurant and the waiter asks you, "Would you like shrimp or would

you like steak?"

Well, I would prefer shrimp, okay?

So in this situation, I would like this.

So example, again, you can use the same formula.

I would prefer books.

I would prefer reading books.

I would prefer to read books in this situation, okay?

What about, "would rather?"

So she would rather sit on the bus.

So "would rather" does the same thing as "would prefer," except the formula is different.

So whereas here, you can have, "I would prefer," followed by a noun, a gerund, or an infinitive,

here you have to say, again, if this is a subject, subject could be I, you, he, she,

it, they, we.

We're using "she" in this case.

She would rather, plus the base verb, always, always, always, followed by the base verb.

She would rather sit on the bus.

Okay, now let's look at how we can form some questions using these expressions.

Okay, so when we're looking at forming questions using "prefer" and "would prefer," there are

a couple of formulas that we can follow to help us form these questions.

So, with "prefer," we use the form, the correct form of the verb "do," so we either "do" or

"does," depending on the subject.

So "do you," "do they," right, "they do," "you do."

So "do you" or "do they prefer rock music?"

So "do," subject, "prefer," object, "do you prefer rock music?"

"Does," "does he," "does she," "she does," "he does," right?

Does he or does she prefer wearing sunglasses?

I don't know, maybe they think it's light all the time.

So for "would prefer," we use "would" plus the subject, "would you," "would they," "would

he," "would she," plus "prefer" to "stand," okay?

"Would you," "would they," "would he," "would she."

So "would" plus subject, "prefer," object.

So "would you prefer to stand?"

Okay, to answer these questions, it's very, very simple, just like "do you," "do they,"

just "yes," "I," "we," "they," "do," "yes," "he," "she," "does," "yes," and this is for

"would you prefer," again, if the question is "would you prefer to stand?"

"Yes," "I would," okay?

So "yes," subject, and for "would prefer," we use "would" at the end, and "do" for "prefer."

Okay, and if you want to say "no," again, very simple if you've studied the verb "do."

"No, I don't."

Do you prefer rock music?

"No, I don't.

I prefer jazz."

"No, he or she doesn't."

Does he or she prefer jazz to rock music?

"No, she prefers rock."

Okay, when you're doing "would prefer," would you prefer to stand instead of sit, maybe

on the bus?

You just answer with "no, I wouldn't," or "would not," right?

Okay, so now let's look at forming a question with "would rather."

Okay, and finally, when we're looking at forming questions with "would rather," we can also

form this simple formula.

So we have the sentence here, the question, "Would you rather read?"

Okay?

So, we have "would" followed by the subject, followed by "rather," and then we have the

verb.

So, "Would you rather read?"

"Yes, I would," when you answer, "Yes, subject, I would," or "No, I would not."

Now, it's very important here to look at the contraction we can make.

"I would not" can also be "I wouldn't," or "No, I would rather not."

So, "No, I, subject, would rather not."

Now this can also be shortened to "No, I'd," "I would," "I'd rather not."

Okay, so again, "Would you rather read?"

"Yes, I would," or "No, I would not," "No, I wouldn't," or "No, I would rather not,"

"No, I'd rather not."

Now, it's very important to note, you know, you might think, "Well, here you're saying

'I would,' 'I'd.'

How come here you can't say 'Yes, I'd'?"

It's just a rule.

You simply can't.

Okay, so you must say, "Yes, I would."

Okay, so to test your understanding of showing preferences with "prefer," "would prefer,"

and "would rather," please check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

My name is Alex.

Take care.