“You’d Better”

Level: High Begiining and Up
Pair with the Song: “Vienna” (Billy Joel)
Recommended Videos: the official video; the audio-only video; the lyric video. There are also many covers of this song by young performers–for example, the informal performance by Elle and Toni.

This song’s message is: Slow down. In one verse, that sentiment is expressed this way: “Where’s the fire, what’s the hurry about? You’d better cool it off before you burn it out.” The exercise below gives students practice using the expression you’d better. The difference between you should and you’d better is nuanced but important, as the expression you’d better (or you better) is common in spoken English.
Permission is granted to reproduce the worksheet below for classroom use. For more activities to go with this song, please see the Lesson Plan.

You’d better.pdf You’d better (webpage)

Preview:

You’d Better

A. Read the conversation below.

Speaker A: The sun is really bright.

Speaker B: You’d better put on your sunglasses.

B. Read about the expression you’d better.

you’d better = you should = you ought to
Use you’d better when you have a very strong opinion—for example, when you think it is dangerous not to follow your advice.
You’d better is followed by the simple form of a verb.
The negative form of you’d better is you’d better not.
In speaking, many people say you better.

C. You are Speaker B. Give advice to Speaker A. Look at the picture, then write a response to each statement. (There can be more than one correct response.) Begin each response this way: You’d better + the simple form of a verb.

1. Speaker A: I’m really thirsty.