I was talking with a friend of mine when she said, "I had better eat something and get some sleep." I thought she was saying it was better if she ate something earlier, but that was not what she meant.
Why is the past tense used to say something somebody is going to do? What is the difference between "I had better eat something" and "I am going to eat something"?
Answer
“I had better eat something” is not in past tense; it is a subjunctive modal expressing a recommendation. An englishpage.com article says the recommendation form of had better is used for future events; as in, for example, “You had better unplug the toaster before you try to clean it”, which would transform to “I had better unplug the toaster before I clean it”.
An englishgrammarsecrets.com article says:
We use “had better” plus the infinitive without “to” to give advice. Although “had” is the past form of “have”, we use “had better” to give advice about the present or future.
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