A question regarding the use of "but rather" in negative sentences

Question

Greeting, Englishforumers. I am a newly registered and I have a question with "but rather" as I want to write a line like this :

" I intend to not enter Hell but rather have Hell escort me to Heaven itself"

I doubt if the popular "not x but rather y" template is still correct in this case, for so far I've only encountered examples utilizing "but rather" in a noun-noun equivalence.

So is my original sentence correct ? If it is not, then please correct it for me. If it's right but there are more apporiate alternatives, would you mind writing them all down ?

Thank you, and best regards.

Andriy Lapin · Accepted Answer

Greetings to you, Syderia, and welcome to the Forums!

I intend not to enter ****, but rather have **** escort me to Heaven itself.

Syderia Sylverainso far I've only encountered examples utilizing "but rather" in a noun-noun equivalence.

Unlike general obligation bonds, private activity revenue bonds are not "public debt” but rather are payable solely from the proceeds of the project. - SUBSTANTIVE-TO-ADJECTIVAL EQUIVALENCE (AS YOU MENTION)

The problem is not to compute solutions but rather to describe their essential general characteristics. V-TO-V EQUIVALENCE

Lots of other examples can be found in large corpora, but even these ones, taken from economic and engineering dictionaries, show that 'not... but rather' is not restricted to nouns.

Commas are sometimes left out before 'but rather', as in the last example.

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Syderia Sylverain · Answer

Thank you Mr.Chebrikoff ! Your answer has been extremely helpful .

Anonymous · Answer

Software piracy is not helping our society to evolve, but rather holding progress back, I dare assume.

thanks..

A question regarding the use of "but rather" in negative sentences

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