ct:
as, "He that loses by getting, _had better lose_ than get."--_Penn's
Maxims_. "Other prepositions _had better have been substituted_."--
_Priestley's Gram._, p. 166. "I had as lief say."--LOWTH: _ib._, p. 110.
"It compels me to think of that which I _had rather forget_."--
_Bickersteth, on Prayer_, p. 25. "You _had much better say_ nothing upon
the subject."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 147. "I _had much rather show_ thee
what hopes thou hast before thee."--_Baxter_. "I _had rather speak_ five
words with my understanding, than ten thousand words in an unknown
tongue."--_1 Cor._, xiv, 19. "I knew a gentleman in America who told me
_how much rather he had be_ a woman than the man he is."--_Martineau's
Society in America_, Vol. i, p. 153. "I _had as lief go_ as not."--
_Webster's Dict., w. Lief_. "I _had as lieve_ the town crier spoke my
lines."--SHAK.: _Hamlet_. "We _had best leave_ nature to her own
operations."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 310. "What method _had he
best take_?"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. ix. These are equivalent to the
phrases, _might better lose--might_ better have been substituted--_would_
as lief say--_would_ rather forget--_might_ much better say--_would_ much
rather show--_would_ rather speak--how much rather he _would_ be--_would_
as lief go--_should_ best leave--_might_ he best take; and, for the sake of
regularity, these latter forms ought to be preferred, as they sometimes
are: thus, "For my own part, I _would rather look_ upon a tree in all its
luxuriancy."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 414; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 223. The
following construction is different: "Augustus _had like to_ have been
slain."--_S. Butler_. Here _had_ is a principal verb of the indicative
imperfect. The following examples appear to be positively erroneous: "Much
that was said, _had better remained_ unsaid."--_N. Y. Observer_. Say,
"_might better have remained_." "A man that is lifting a weight, if he put
not sufficient strength to it, _had as good_ put none at all."--_Baxter_.
Say, "_might as well put_." "You _were better pour_ off the first infusion,
and use the latter."--_Bacon_. Say, "_might better pour_;" or, if you
prefer it, "_had better pour._" Shakspeare has an expression which is still
worse:--

"Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,
Thou _hadst been better have been born_ a dog."--_Beauties_, p. 295.

OBS. 18.--The form of conjugating the active verb, is often called the
_Active Voice_, and that of the passiv