I was wondering if I may write a sentence like this:
I would rather you were to have told me about it earlier (than...)
If I'm correct, It should mean the same as
I would rather you had told me about it earlier (than...)
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Sign up to join this communityI was wondering if I may write a sentence like this:
I would rather you were to have told me about it earlier (than...)
If I'm correct, It should mean the same as
I would rather you had told me about it earlier (than...)
The two meanings are slightly different. Example one, ..."you were to have"..implies to me a degree of compulsion and perhaps a greater degree of uncertainty as to whether the act would be carried out. Example two, which is neater, seems to me to be the more standard construction in British English. In earlier days, the more usual construction was to say "I had rather", analogous to "I had better".