課本中不會教你的[R]569　rather than和rather…than

569　rather than和rather…than

◎ rather than意為“而不是，與其……寧愿”，rather…than意為“是……而不是”。應注意如下幾點：

① rather than作連詞用，所連接的可以是動詞、副詞、形容詞、名詞短語等，被連接的成分應在詞性上保持一致。

② rather than位于句首時，后跟動詞原形，該動詞前不可加to，也不受句中謂語時態(tài)的影響。

③ rather than位于句中連接兩個動詞時，其后的動詞形式應同前面與其平行的動詞形式一致。

④ would rather…than…意為“寧肯……而不……”，前面表示肯定，后面表示否定；than后用動詞原形，不帶to。

⑤ had better+動詞原形意為“最好干……”，不可說had better…than，一般也不說had rather或had rather…than。但可以說would sooner…than。

Rather than sell the eggs at a very low price，she would keep them for her own children. 她寧愿把雞蛋留給自己的孩子吃，也不愿低價賣出。

He killed himself rather than got caught by the enemy. 他自殺了，不愿讓敵人抓住。

He insisted on walking on foot rather than going by bike. 他堅持步行，而不騎自行車。

It was what she meant rather than what she said. 她說的是那個意思，而不是真那么說了。

I'd rather go hungry than borrow money from him. 我寧愿挨餓也不向他借錢。

The cap is comfortable rather than pretty. 這帽子不好看，可卻很舒服。

他與其屈辱而生，寧愿光榮而死。

Rather than live in dishonour，he would die.

=He would （just）as soon die as live in dishonour.