RATHER

We use rather as a degree adverb (rather cold, rather nice). We also use it to express alternatives
and preferences (green rather than blue, coffee rather than tea, slowly rather than quickly).

Rather as a degree adverb

We use rather to give emphasis to an adjective or adverb. It has a similar meaning to quite
when quite is used with gradable words. It is more formal than quite. We often use it to express
something unexpected or surprising:

A:
You’re not just wasting your time here, are you?

B:
No, I’m rather busy, in fact.

They walked rather slowly.

I’m afraid I behaved rather badly.

Rather with adjective + noun

With a/an we usually use rather a/an + adjective + noun, but we can also use a rather + adjective +
noun. With other determiners (some, those) we use determiner + rather + adjective + noun:

We had to wait rather a long time. (or, less common, We had to wait a rather long time.)

He helped her out of rather an uncomfortable situation. (or He helped her out of a
rather uncomfortable situation.)

I had some rather bad news today.

Not: I had rather some bad news today.

Rather a + noun

Rather a with a noun is more common in formal language than in informal language, particularly in
writing:

It was rather a surprise to find them in the house before me.

Rather + verb
We can use rather to emphasize verbs. We use it most commonly with verbs such as enjoy, hope,
like:

I was rather hoping you’d forgotten about that.

He rather liked the idea of a well-paid job in Japan.

RATHER THAN: ALTERNATIVES AND PREFERENCES

We use rather than to give more importance to one thing when two alternatives or preferences are
being compared:

He wanted to be an actor rather than a comedian.

Can we come over on Saturday rather than Friday?

Rather than usually occurs between two things which are being compared. However, we can also use
it at the beginning of a sentence. When we use rather than with a verb, we use the base form or (less
commonly) the -ing form of a verb:

Rather than pay the taxi fare, he walked home. (or Rather than paying the taxi fare, he walked
home.)

Not: Rather than to pay …

WOULD RATHER

We use would rather or ’d rather to talk about preferring one thing to another. Would rather has two
different constructions. (The subjects are underlined in the examples.)

Compare

different subject (+ past simple

same subject (+ base form)
clause)

I’d rather stay at home than go out

I’d rather you stayed at home tonight.
tonight.

I’d rather not go out tonight. I’d rather you didn’t go out tonight

In negative sentences with a different subject, the negative comes on the clause that follows, not
on would rather:
She’d rather you didn’t phone after 10 o’clock.

Not: She wouldn’t rather you phoned after 10 o’clock.

Same subject

When the subject is the same person in both clauses, we use would rather (not) followed by the base
form of the verb:

We’d rather go on Monday.

Not: We’d rather to go … or We’d rather going …

I’d rather not fly. I hate planes.

When we want to refer to the past we use would rather + have + -ed form (perfect infinitive
without to):

She would rather have spent the money on a holiday. (The money wasn’t spent on a holiday.)

I’d rather have seen it at the cinema than on DVD. (I saw the film on DVD.)

Different subjects

When the subjects of the two clauses are different, we often use the past simple to talk about the
present or future, and the past perfect to talk about the past:

I would rather they did something about it instead of just talking about it. (past simple to talk about
that one person would prefer another person to do something)
Would you rather I wasn’t honest with you? (past simple to talk about the present or future)

Not: Would you rather I’m not honest with you? or … I won’t be honest with you?

I’d rather you hadn’t rung me at work. (past perfect to talk about regrets that have already
happened)