What is the difference between following sentences : Eric

Question

What is the difference between following sentences :

Eric would rather that you  not had  gone to the conference with him yesterday.

Vs

Eric would rather that you  had not  gone to the conference with him yesterday.

As per the book, both constructions are correct but it's not clear what is the difference between intended meaning of both.

geometric · Answer

I am almost positive that if you ever see that usage of "not had" on GMAT answer choices, it will not be the OA. I'm definitely curious about the meaning of that sentence as I haven't a clue. It is absolutely crucial to note that on the GMAT, both within the Quant and Verbal sections, a solid and deep understanding of fundamentals will lead you to a higher score than a shallow but broad understanding of a wide array of "advanced" topics. This is one of those advanced topics that just seems silly.

mohammadalsheikh · Answer

What is the difference between following sentences :

Eric would rather that you not had gone to the conference with him yesterday.

Vs

Eric would rather that you had not gone to the conference with him yesterday.

As per the book, both constructions are correct but it's not clear what is the difference between intended meaning of both.

Hello,

I have a comment related to above, so please correct me if i am wrong :

the first sentence which have " not had gone " is wrong , as per the gmat grammar book :

"In order to make a sentence  negative  which has  one subject  and is in  present subjunctive form , simply add not before the verb."

so please read the following :

Present Tense
subject + would rather + verb in simple form. . .

Past Tense
subject + would rather + have + verb in past participle (present perfect tense)

Present Subjunctive
subject + would rather that + subject + verb in simple form. . .

so structurally, the first sentence is wrong

please advise, is it correct or not

KyleWiddison · Answer

Wow...This is full of interesting little points. First, the setup is more complex than what you would typically see on the GMAT. You should be using a conditional perfect tense in a subjunctive mood, but the GMAT sticks with simple tenses and then mixes in some past/present perfect or subjunctive. Also, Idiomatically we wouldn't use rather in the this past conditional tense. You would be better off using preferred, which very commonly is used in the past tense.

You sentence would really be stated as:
Eric would have preferred that you not go the conference. (Conditional past - would have preferred; subjunctive - not go)

That said, you seemed to have a question about the placement of not in the previous example, which was erroneous. I can't think of another potential placement for "not" in the revised example. Do you have another example that might demonstrate your question?

KW

What is the difference between following sentences : Eric

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