"rather than" problem

Question

StartFragment&gt;There was a test. It was like the below.Most patients would prefer to prevent infection rather than (have/ having) to deal with its results. And the ANSWER is 'have.'I know 'have' is much better than 'having' because of 'prefer to prevent,' but I don't know why 'having' must not be an answer.Can you tell my WHY? In Longman dictionary,rather than : instead of • Rather than go straight on to university why not get some work experience first? • Bryson decided to quit rather than accept the new rules.

Hoa Thai · Accepted Answer

Stenka25
There was a test.

It was like the below.

Most patients would prefer to prevent infection rather than (have/ having) to deal with its results.

And the ANSWER is 'have.'

I know 'have' is much better than 'having' because of 'prefer to prevent,' but I don't know why 'having' must not be an answer.

Hi,

Based on the parallelism concept, both sides of rather than should be the same. I guess that could be the reason why you said, "I know." Here is an example of -ing being used:

“Adding a camera to the device, rather than relying on the magnetic tracker on the skin, the doctor …..”
That said, you might find many people mix the two infinitive and -ing forms. Many of these people would certainly have an opinion of why doing so is okay or even better. Maybe what the test was looking for is consistency.

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks.

I appreciate it.

"rather than" problem

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