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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Rather

I'm confused as to the proper use of "or ___ rather" when interrupting a thought to emphasize my main point. Is it correct to set this off with hyphens? Do I need to use a comma? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I appear to have exhausted my resources. Thanks!

Ex.) This generation of males is a little behind in growing up, but this doesn't alleviate women or girls, rather of their responsibilities.
  

Top answer

This really has nothing to do with 'rather', I think, but has to do with using m-dashes (not hyphens), which are an informal equivalent of parentheses or commas: These males are behind, but this doesn't relieve women – or girls, rather – of their responsibilities. These males are behind, but this doesn't relieve women (or girls, rather) of their responsibilities. These males are behind, but this doesn't relieve women, or girls, rather, of their responsibilities.

— Mister Micawber

  • This really has nothing to do with 'rather', I think, but has to do with using m-dashes (not hyphens), which are an informal equivalent of parentheses or commas: These males are behind, but this doesn't relieve women – or girls, rather – of their responsibilities.
  • These males are behind, but this doesn't relieve women (or girls, rather) of their responsibilities.
  • These males are behind, but this doesn't relieve women, or girls, rather, of their responsibilities.
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1 Answers
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This really has nothing to do with 'rather', I think, but has to do with using m-dashes (not hyphens), which are an informal equivalent of parentheses or commas:

These males are behind, but this doesn't relieve women – or girls, rather – of their responsibilities.
These males are behind, but this doesn't relieve women (or girls, rather) of their responsibilities.
These
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