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Why buy a drill you'll use once? It's high time and would rather + past simple

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches it's high time and would rather + past simple through Berkeley's Tool Lending Library, which has lent tools like books since 1979.

Grammar
It's (high) time + subject and would rather + another person take the past simple (It's time we stopped. I'd rather you borrowed one.), set against it's time to and I'd rather borrow.
Topic
How Berkeley's tool library grew from a trailer, who may borrow and whether it was the first, with words such as lend, declutter and chip in.
Activities
An explainer, a visit to a tool librarian and a reader's voice memo, self-checking drills, a roommate chat and a buy-or-borrow wheel.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: own it or borrow it?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the words: borrow, share, fixVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2A library with a drill section

    • Look at the picture: a library in a trailerPictureUnlock
    • Read Harper's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the paragraphs and the headingsMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Borrowed, not bought?

    • Listen to Harper and ClaudeListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Lenora's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: It's time we stopped

    • Study the scheme: it's time we stoppedGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: put the words in brackets in the past simpleFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: use the past simple after it's time or would rather + a subjectFill in the tableUnlock
    • Sort the words into the correct columns: which pattern is it?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: I'd rather you borrowed it

    • Choose the right replies: buy or borrow a ladder?ChatTry it
    • Spin the wheel and answer: buy, borrow or share?Spin the wheelUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: put the words in brackets in the past simpleFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what does it mean?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: a notice from the tool libraryChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Harper answers LenoraDrag and dropUnlock

33 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • secondhand
  • splurge
  • toolbox
  • pegboard
  • handyman
  • do-it-yourself
  • worn out
  • focus group
  • property owner

Grammar: it's (high) time and would rather + past simple

Two patterns take a past form with a present or future meaning: It's time we stopped means we should stop now, and I'd rather you borrowed one means please borrow one. A library that lends drills makes both easy to use, and learners put the past simple right after the subject, with didn't for the negative.

It's time we stopped. I'd rather you borrowed one.

After it's (high) time + a subject and after would rather + another person, use the past simple. It looks like the past, but it means now or the future.

It's (high) time + subject + past simple

Use it when someone should act now and is a little late: It's time you returned the ladder. High makes the complaint stronger: It's high time he decluttered his garage. The verb looks past, but the meaning is now: The drill is dusty. It's time it went back.

SubjectExampleIt means…
IIt's time I learned to use a drill.I should learn now.
youIt's time you returned the ladder.You should return it now.
heIt's high time he decluttered his garage.He should do it now. He's late!
sheIt's time she lent her sander to someone.She should lend it now.
itThe drill is dusty. It's time it went back to the library.It should go back now.
weIt's high time we stopped buying tools we use once.We should stop now.
theyIt's time they chipped in for one lawn mower.They should chip in now.

would rather + another person + past simple

When you want someone else to act, put that person after would rather, then the past simple: I'd rather you borrowed one. The library would rather we returned tools on time. The negative takes didn't + base form: I'd rather you didn't buy one.

SubjectExampleIt means…
II'd rather you borrowed one.I want you to borrow one.
youYou'd rather I didn't buy it, right?You don't want me to buy it.
heHe'd rather she lent him her drill.He wants her to lend it.
sheShe'd rather we chipped in for one ladder.She wants us to chip in.
it (the library)The library would rather we returned tools on time.It wants us to return them on time.
weWe'd rather they didn't throw old tools away.We don't want them to throw them away.
theyThey'd rather we fixed the old sander.They want us to fix it.

Your own choice, or someone else's?

For your own choice, would rather takes the base form: I'd rather borrow a drill than buy one. It's time to stop is right too, as a general idea, while it's time we stopped points at us and says we're late. It's high time usually takes a subject.

Five patterns and their uses

PatternUse it when…Example
it's (high) time + subject + past simplesomeone should do it now, and it's a little lateIt's high time we stopped buying tools we use once.
it's time (for + person) + to + base formyou say it's the right moment, often as a general ideaIt's time to stop buying tools. It's time for us to go.
would rather + base formyou talk about your own choiceI'd rather borrow a drill than buy one.
would rather + another person + past simpleyou want someone else to do somethingI'd rather you borrowed one.
would rather + another person + didn't + base formyou don't want someone else to do somethingI'd rather you didn't buy one.

time to or time we?

Both are correct, with a different focus. It's time to stop buying tools = now is the right moment, for everyone. It's time we stopped buying tools = we should do it, and we're late. High makes it stronger: It's high time we decluttered the garage! It's high time is usually followed by a subject + past simple.

Past form, present meaning

The past simple here doesn't describe the past: It's time we left = we should leave now. In speech you may hear It's time we stop or I'd rather you borrow, but the past simple is the usual written form.

Past form, present meaning

The past simple here doesn't talk about the past. I'd rather you borrowed one = please borrow one (today, this week). It's time we left = we should leave now. For a negative, use didn't + base form: I'd rather you didn't lend it to strangers. In speech you may also hear I'd rather you borrow and It's time we stop, but the past simple is the usual written form.

At the tool library

  • I'd rather you borrowed ours.
  • It's time we stopped filling our closets with tools we use once.
  • I'd rather you didn't keep it for a month.
  • Harper, it's high time you learned to read a manual.
  • First, it's time to put on safety glasses.
  • I'd rather have my own drill than wait for someone else's.(for yourself: base form)

Common mistakes

Four slips: It's time we will stop, I'd rather you borrowing one, I'd rather you to borrow one and It's high time to we decluttered. Each needs the past simple straight after the subject, with no will, no -ing and no to.

  • It's time we will stop buying tools we use once.

    It's time we stopped buying tools we use once.

    it's time + subject → past simple, never will

  • I'd rather you borrowing one.

    I'd rather you borrowed one.

    another person → past simple, not -ing

  • I'd rather you to borrow one.

    I'd rather you borrowed one.

    no to after would rather

  • It's high time to we decluttered the garage.

    It's high time we decluttered the garage.

    no to before the subject

More lessons on this grammar: Third and mixed conditionals lessons and exercises

Try the it's time and would rather exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say that something should happen now and is a little late: It's high time we stopped buying tools we use once.
  • say what you want someone else to do, or not do: I'd rather you borrowed one. I'd rather you didn't keep it for a month.
  • tell your own choice from someone else's: I'd rather borrow a drill than buy one against I'd rather you borrowed one
  • choose between it's time to + base form and it's time + subject + past simple: First, it's time to put on safety glasses.
  • argue for borrowing, sharing or owning: It's time we got to know our neighbors. I'd rather my neighbors bought their own tools.

Lesson 24 closes Money and smart choices, unit 6 of English B2.1 · How the World Works. It takes the past form with a present meaning from wish + past simple in lesson 18, and it stretches would rather + base form from B1.2 lesson 28 to other people. Lesson 25 opens unit 7, Language and communication, with must have and might have. A library that lends drills is a natural place to say I'd rather you borrowed one.

Students open boxes of questions about owning, borrowing and fixing things, then learn twelve words, from lend and declutter to pegboard and property owner, with pictures and audio. They read Harper's explainer on Berkeley's tool library, then hear Harper borrow a drill from Claude, a librarian at a tool library near the office, and Lenora, a reader from California, argue that shared tools break faster; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them a column sort of the four patterns. Then students talk a roommate out of buying a ladder in a chat and spin a wheel of buy-or-borrow questions.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, a gap-fill and a memory game; then new sentences with forms to choose, past simple gaps with the subject given, sentences to order, a quiz on meaning, a spring notice from the tool library and Harper's answer to Lenora with words to drag in.

Grammar:
it's time + past simple · it's high time · it's time + to-infinitive · would rather + someone + past simple · would rather + base form
Topic:
Berkeley Tool Lending Library · Berkeley, California · tool libraries · borrowing and sharing · money and smart choices · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Ask who owns a tool they've used only once before the reading, and what it was. Then students read to find out how Berkeley lets residents borrow one instead.
  • Write the same idea three ways: We should stop now. It's time to stop. It's high time we stopped. Students decide which one sounds most impatient, and why.
  • Play the visit to the tool library twice: first for what Harper borrows and what she takes for her shelf, then for every I'd rather and it's time. Students mark the ones with another person after them.
  • Run a quick buy-or-borrow vote after Lenora's memo: a drill, a ladder, a pasta maker, a camera. Students defend each answer with I'd rather… or It's time we…

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The whole course: English B2.1 · How the World Works

32 lessons for adults at B2 in American English, each answering one question about how the world works. The team of The Why Desk, a small online magazine in Pittsburgh, takes on one question a week, from the day a computer beat the world chess champion to eight people sealed inside Biosphere 2. Learners tell stories with narrative tenses, speculate about the past and the future, and report what experts claim. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 AI and the future of work

    narrative tenses, by and until, be bound to and be likely to, the future perfect

    1. Lesson 1Checkmate: the day a computer beat the championNarrative tenses: past simple, past continuous and past perfect
    2. Lesson 2The robot car that crossed the desertTime prepositions: by, until, within, throughout, in time and on time
    3. Lesson 3Can a chatbot fool you?Probability about the future: be bound to, be likely to, the chances are
    4. Lesson 4By 2035, what will AI have designed?The future perfect simple: will have + past participle

  2. Unit 2 Health breakthroughs

    the third conditional, the past perfect and past continuous passive, have something done, the passive with two objects

    1. Lesson 5The moldy melon that changed medicineThe third conditional: if + had done, would have done
    2. Lesson 61.8 million Polio PioneersThe past perfect passive and the past continuous passive
    3. Lesson 7One clinic, many doctorsHave / get something done
    4. Lesson 8A kidney from a twinThe passive with two objects

  3. Unit 3 Moving people

    the past perfect continuous, the passive infinitive and -ing form, it's worth and there's no point, the future in the past

    1. Lesson 9Six years to the golden spikeThe past perfect continuous vs the past perfect simple
    2. Lesson 10Riding a pod with no driverThe passive infinitive and the passive -ing form
    3. Lesson 11The town that painted bike lanes firstIt's worth, there's no point and it's no use + -ing
    4. Lesson 12The highways that were supposed to take 13 yearsThe future in the past

  4. Unit 4 Wildlife comebacks

    reporting verbs with a that clause, with an object and infinitive and with -ing, verbs of perception

    1. Lesson 13Did wolves really change Yellowstone's rivers?Reporting verbs + that clause
    2. Lesson 14Bringing a parrot back from the edgeReporting verbs + object + (not) to + base form
    3. Lesson 15The beavers that came by parachuteReporting verbs + -ing and verb + preposition + -ing
    4. Lesson 16Fifteen bison take the trainVerbs of perception + object + base form or -ing

  5. Unit 5 Pop culture goes global

    comment adverbs, wish and if only for the present and the past, have someone do and get someone to do

    1. Lesson 17The party that started hip hopComment adverbs: apparently, supposedly, undoubtedly
    2. Lesson 18Slide to the left!Wish and if only for wishes about now
    3. Lesson 19If only they'd kept SupermanWish and if only + past perfect for regrets
    4. Lesson 20The hit factory on West Grand BoulevardCausative have and get: have someone do, get someone to do

  6. Unit 6 Money and smart choices

    -ever words and no matter, should have and could have, prepositions for numbers and change, it's time and would rather

    1. Lesson 21The bank that never closed-ever words and no matter
    2. Lesson 22One marshmallow now or two later?Should have, shouldn't have and could have
    3. Lesson 23Benjamin Franklin's 200-year giftPrepositions for numbers and change
    4. Lesson 24 · you're hereWhy buy a drill you'll use once?It's (high) time and would rather + past simple

  7. Unit 7 Language and communication

    must have, might have and can't have, verb prefixes and suffixes, past modals in continuous and passive forms, agreement with quantities

    1. Lesson 25How did one man write down a language?Past modals of deduction: must have, might have, can't have
    2. Lesson 26Why do Americans write “color”?Verb prefixes and suffixes: misspell, rewrite, simplify, shorten
    3. Lesson 27The joke that needed a smileyPast modals in continuous and passive forms
    4. Lesson 28Can preschoolers save a language?Subject-verb agreement with quantities and collective nouns

  8. Unit 8 Exploring the extremes

    dimension nouns, the future continuous and future perfect continuous, compound adjectives, only, even and just

    1. Lesson 29A walk on the ocean floorDimension nouns and phrases: depth, width, height
    2. Lesson 30Six months of night at the South PoleThe future continuous and the future perfect continuous
    3. Lesson 31Flying on pedal powerCompound adjectives with numbers and participles
    4. Lesson 32Two years under glassFocus adverbs: only, even, just and at all

Questions about this lesson

What does “it's high time” mean?
It's high time + subject + past simple says something should happen now, and it's already late: It's high time we decluttered the garage. High makes plain it's time stronger and more impatient. The verb is past in form but present in meaning. The B2 lesson Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai teaches it with Berkeley's tool library, where people borrow tools instead of buying them.
Why do we use the past simple after it's time and would rather?
Because here the past form talks about now or the future, not the past. It's time we left means we should leave now, and I'd rather you borrowed one means please borrow one. Wish + past simple works the same way. For a negative, use didn't + base form: I'd rather you didn't lend it to strangers. The scheme in Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai shows both patterns for every person.
What's the difference between “I'd rather borrow” and “I'd rather you borrowed”?
Would rather + base form is a choice about what you yourself do: I'd rather borrow a drill than buy one. With another person after it, the verb goes into the past simple, and you want that person to act: I'd rather you borrowed one. I'd rather you to borrow and I'd rather you borrowing are both wrong. A column sort in Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai separates the patterns.
What's the difference between “it's time to” and “it's time we”?
Both are correct. It's time to stop says now is the right moment, often for everyone. It's time we stopped points at particular people and adds that they're late. Don't mix them: It's high time to we decluttered is wrong. In Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai, the librarian uses both: It's time to put on safety glasses and it's high time you learned to read a manual.
Is it “I'd rather you borrow” or “I'd rather you borrowed”?
Write I'd rather you borrowed: the past simple is the usual written form. In speech you may also hear I'd rather you borrow, so it isn't a slip to correct in conversation. The real mistakes are I'd rather you to borrow and I'd rather you borrowing. Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai drills the past simple and never marks the spoken form as wrong.
What is a tool lending library?
It lends tools the way other libraries lend books. Berkeley's Tool Lending Library in California opened in 1979 with a federal grant, about 500 tools and one full-time employee, in a trailer behind a branch library. Berkeley residents and property owners aged 18 or over borrow there. It calls itself “one of the first”: Grosse Pointe's library in Michigan says it began lending tools in 1943. Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai tells the story.
How do I teach it's time and would rather to B2 students?
Start with a small, everyday disagreement, such as buying a drill for one shelf, and let one side say I'd rather you borrowed one and It's time we stopped buying tools. Then set each against its partner: I'd rather borrow, it's time to stop. Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai moves from Harper's explainer and her visit to a tool librarian to the scheme, a past simple gap-fill and four more drills.
What's a good game for practicing would rather?
Try “Would you rather I…?”: one student makes offers (Would you rather I cooked or washed the dishes?), and a partner answers with the past simple: I'd rather you cooked. Then they swap roles. For speaking, the wheel in Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai asks Which would you rather your town opened: a tool library, a fix-it clinic or a library of kitchen tools?
What's good homework for it's time and would rather?
Good homework gives the subject and asks for the verb: It's time (you / brush) your teeth becomes It's time you brushed your teeth, plus a quiz on who should act in I'd rather you borrowed one. All ten homework tasks in Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai check themselves, ending with a spring notice from the tool library and Harper's answer to Lenora.
How do you practice it's high time one-to-one?
Make a list of overdue jobs: the student names three things at home or at work that should have happened already and says It's high time I… for each, and the teacher answers I'd rather you… with a better plan. The chat in Why buy a drill you'll use once? on edio.ai needs no partner: a roommate wants to buy a ladder for one light bulb, and the student suggests borrowing one.
Are there interactive exercises for it's time and would rather?
Yes. Without an account, this page plays three parts of Why buy a drill you'll use once?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai: Harper and Claude at the tool library, gaps that turn each verb into the past simple and a chat about buying or borrowing a ladder. An account opens everything else.
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