Rather than

Question

Hello,Does it make any difference whether the verb following "rather than" adopts progressive (-ing) form? "I think I'd like to stay at home this evening rather than go out.""Why didn’t you ask for help, rather than trying to do it on your own?"Is it incorrect to say"........this evening rather than going out."?".......for help, rather than try to do it......"?What are the rules the govern when the progressive form should be adopted? Thank you for your attention.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Well, they both sound fine and common to me, and the first grammar book I grabbed simply said that 'rather than' can be followed by either of those (and with or without 'to' in the case of the infinitive), with no further comment.

Anonymous · Answer

Hello, Anonymous:

The "correct" usage of "rather than" confuses many of us ordinary native speakers, too.

A few years ago, I found a short and helpful explanation on the Web. If you can find it (on the Web or in the actual book), you will, I am sure, be very delighted with the article.

It was in The American Heritage Book of English Usage in a section entitled "2. Style: Parallelism, Passives, Redundancy, and Wordliness. 6. Rather than."

Because of space and copyright laws, I cannot go into detail about what the book said.

But I can pass along one idea that it gives us:

If you are ever really confused about what form to use after "rather than," just change it to "instead of" + -ing:

I would like to stay at home instead of going out.

Terryxpress · Answer

1. "I think I'd like to stay at home this evening rather than go out."
2. "Why didn’t you ask for help, rather than trying to do it on your own?"

Notice something different about the sentences?
The first expresses a direct preference: 'stay' rather than 'go'

In the second, the speaker is implying that he thinks you should have asked for help, but instead, you (tried to do it on your own.)
Most importantly, 'trying' is not a particle of a progressive verb form. The full sentence (which no one would actually say!) is:
Why didn't you ask for help, rather than your trying to do it on your own?
'trying' is a gerund.

There is no parallel structure, so 'rather than trying to do it on your own' is fine.

Rather than

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