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Cho7712 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
rather than
I've known that the phrase 'rather than' is used for indicating the coordinated relation.
But as you see below, it is confusing with the form of a word immediately after 'than'.
e.g. Why didn’t you ask for help, rather than trying to do it on
your own?
They send injured workers home rather than prescribe
physical therapy for them.
I'm going to forget the whole affair, rather than cause trouble.
Please exit the Program normally rather than trying to end
the session through the Program Manager.
I can see why the bare form of each verb appears in the second and third sentence. They simply shows how the coordination should be done.
However, the present participle form in the first and the last sentence seems to be out of accordance with the concept of coordination. Rather, it fuctions as if it should be the complement of the preposition 'than'.
So I can't figure out why some cases are treated as the coordination but the others not. What do you think about this matter?
But as you see below, it is confusing with the form of a word immediately after 'than'.
e.g. Why didn’t you ask for help, rather than trying to do it on
your own?
They send injured workers home rather than prescribe
physical therapy for them.
I'm going to forget the whole affair, rather than cause trouble.
Please exit the Program normally rather than trying to end
the session through the Program Manager.
I can see why the bare form of each verb appears in the second and third sentence. They simply shows how the coordination should be done.
However, the present participle form in the first and the last sentence seems to be out of accordance with the concept of coordination. Rather, it fuctions as if it should be the complement of the preposition 'than'.
So I can't figure out why some cases are treated as the coordination but the others not. What do you think about this matter?
Top answer
I don't see any of your examples as being coordinated constructions because in each case the two clauses are not syntactically alike, the first being ones finite, the second ones non-finite. Consequently, "rather than" is not a coordinator; instead "rather" is used in its primary sense where it is an adverb with a comparative meaning of approximately "in preference to". BillJ
- I don't see any of your examples as being coordinated constructions because in each case the two clauses are not syntactically alike, the first being ones finite, the second ones non-finite.
- Consequently, "rather than" is not a coordinator; instead "rather" is used in its primary sense where it is an adverb with a comparative meaning of approximately "in preference to".
- BillJ
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6 Answers
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I don't see any of your examples as being coordinated constructions because in each case the two clauses are not syntactically alike, the first being ones finite, the second ones non-finite. Consequently, "rather than" is not a coordinator; instead "rather" is used in its primary sense where it is an adverb with a comparative meaning of approximately "in preference to".
BillJ
BillJ
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cho7712I've known that the phrase 'rather than' is used for indicating the coordinated relation.Off topic.
If you aren't going to say "for some time", "for a long time", "since I was a child", or something else that indicates a period of time that you have known something, it's much more idiomatic to write "I know". There's no point in using the per
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Thank you for the reply, CJ.
It is the doubt that I wanted to express about my inaccurate knowledge which I would expect to be rectified.
So what I thought was the use of present perfect might be the good device to express my uncertainty of the correctness of the knowledge I was familiar with.
And now I know that the present perfect should be with the temporal expression with the hel
It is the doubt that I wanted to express about my inaccurate knowledge which I would expect to be rectified.
So what I thought was the use of present perfect might be the good device to express my uncertainty of the correctness of the knowledge I was familiar with.
And now I know that the present perfect should be with the temporal expression with the hel
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Hold on! You asked about "rather than" in possible coordinating constructions, and the complements of "than".
If you need some further help on those matters, just ask.
BillJ
If you need some further help on those matters, just ask.
BillJ
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Thank you for the answer, BillJ
And I've accidentally found the posts of the usage of 'rather than' here.
So it might be annoying you to answer the same question.
Though I understand your answer not completely for now, I first shall check all of the previous posts related to my topic and it would be what the questioner should do. Anyway thanks for the answer.
And I've accidentally found the posts of the usage of 'rather than' here.
So it might be annoying you to answer the same question.
Though I understand your answer not completely for now, I first shall check all of the previous posts related to my topic and it would be what the questioner should do. Anyway thanks for the answer.
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Don't worry, I ever don't forget what I asked. And I don't want you to feel that you wasted your time, your answer is surely of useful to me. Actually I've been searching all of the information related to 'rather than' to understand your first answer. Thanks for your concern.
BillJYou asked about "rather than" in possible coordinating constructions, and the complements of "
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