“Would you rather…” – what grade?

11 comments

1. Simplified version in elementary. By late elementary middle school an active English student should have no problem with that structure. If you are talking about public school, late middle school early high school should be fine.

2. I don’t recall that being in any textbook, but if they know “I like A better than B”, it should take minimal introduction to get them using it.

   Edit: Moreover, however, is in every textbook even though it shouldn’t be.

3. That can be used in various iterations depending on the English level even from beginner level.

   Do you want A or B?

   Do you want to do A or B?

   Would you like A or B?

   Would you like to do A or B?

   Do you prefer A or B?

   Do you prefer doing A or B?

   Would you rather have A or B?

   Would you rather do A or B?

4. JHS year 2. That’s when I did it.

5. Be careful. I know a story where Bc of some mistranslation a teacher was accused of something very serious. It got sorted, and was actually nothing bad on his part, but an accusation is still something you don’t want.

   Basically Japanese teacher who couldn’t speak English tried to tell a story to the dispatcher who couldn’t speak Japanese, and nobody had enough common sense to consider a mistranslation until it went way up into the company.

6. First-year HS students have learned the word “rather” and the second conditional;

   –> If (past tense), (would+infinitive).

   ex. If I won the lottery, I would travel the world”

   ​

   ( Amusingly, the nonsensical sentence “If I were a bird, I would be able to fly.” has long been a favorite of Japanese grammar books for describing the second conditional. Though not as famous “What is this?” “This is a pen.” it is well known nevertheless.)

   ​

   I’ve always assumed the “Would you rather A or B?” is taught at the same time, certainly not as late as 3rd HS.

   ​

   When teaching, I’ve long assumed the students had familiarity with the “Would you rather A or B” question pattern among even my first-year students, but I can’t say for sure when the sentence structure is explicitly taught.

7. A lot of conditionals have non-vocalized ‘if-clauses’ lurking beneath the surface. (“If you could do either) would you rather X or Z?” “I would never do that! (even if you paid me)” So if you teach it as part of a broader conditional pattern, than they generally learn it (these days) in the first year of high school and sometimes it is introduced a little bit in the 3rd year of junior high school. This is quite a bit sooner than it used to be introduced.

   However, the phrase “Would you rather/ I would rather” is so productive and relatively easy to wield (since the verb is unmarked), it can also be taught as a formulaic chunk long before you earnestly introduce the conditional-subjunctive. (If you did this) you could play fun games such as “Odd-man-out”.

8. It’s pretty simple grammar there… elementary school. I mean, you’re just replacing ‘like’ with the word ‘rather’ (which is more formal and less common). For example ‘would you like chocolate or vanilla’ is pretty simple – year 2 students will let you know they like chocolate.

   I wouldn’t personally teach it as a preferred way of asking ‘would you like [something]’. I’d just throw it out there occasionally and note that it’s an alternative. Yes there’s a subtle difference, but not really. You’re giving somebody 2 options and asking them to choose one.

9. The hypothetical ‘would’ is now being introduced in junior high grade 3, I believe.

10. For this particular setup, you can easily teach it to junior high school students or even elementary school students if you just use the pattern as it is. As long as you’re not asking the students to create that kind of sentence on their own, it’s very easy for them to understand it and to modify A and B suitably.

    That specific grammar might be taught in 10th grade or 11th grade depending on the speed of the high school. It would probably be reviewed in 12th grade as well.

11. You could probably do this as early as late 2nd year/early 3rd junior high school if you are looking for a short answer.