Unit 28 Level 3 (Upper Intermediate- Advanced): Had better

Our weekly lesson will be devoted to the study of the “had better” structure. As you probably know, it is used to give strong advice, often with a sense of obligation or urgency, and can be a threat or a warning in some cases.




1) Let’s review the use of this structure with the following video. Note that “had better” and “should”, although being almost interchangeable, are not exactly the same as, contrary to “should”, “had better” is not used for things in general, but for particular situations.




2) Sometimes, students get confused when it comes to tell the difference between “had better” and “would rather”. Hopefully, this article will be of some help.




3) Now, let’s try this set of exercises:

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5





4) Translate the following sentences into english:

a) Sería mejor que España negociase directamente con Estados Unidos.

b) Más te valdría no contárselo a tu jefe.

c) Soy diseñador y no apoyo para nada a Galliano. Más le valdría abandonar Dior y no volver jamás.

d) ¿Está Kevin Kolb preparado para liderar a los Eagles? Más le vale.

e) Más les vale que no se olviden de mi regalo de cumpleaños.




5) Use the above exercises to practice with your language exchange. You don't have a language exchange? What are you doing? You must have one if you don't have a teacher.




6) Don’t forget to learn new vocabulary. Extract all the words you don't know from this article from Newsweek Magazine titled “A Looming Disaster”. Look the new words up in an English-English dictionary like this one.




7) Listen and read this story. You should learn all the vocabulary and practice pronunciation. And, for the most daring, read this article from “Business Matters”.




8) Finally, write a story of about 200/250 words using the structures you have learned in this lesson. You can use examples from the videos and exercises above.

If you have done all these exercises, then you've scored a 10! Well done!

*****

Key to exercise 4:

a) Spain had better negotiate directly with the United States

b) You'd better not tell it to your boss

c) I am a designer and I don’t support Galliano at all. He'd better quit Dior and never go back.

d) Is Kevin Kolb ready to lead the Eagles? He’d better be.

e) They had better not forget my birthday gift. Imprimir