We useratheras a degree adverb (rather cold, rather nice). We also use it to express alternatives and preferences (green rather than blue, coffee rather than tea, slowly rather than quickly).
Ratheras a degree adverb
We useratherto give emphasis to an adjective or adverb. It has a similar meaning toquitewhenquiteis used with gradable words. It is more formal thanquite. We often use it to express something unexpected or surprising:
A:You’re not just wasting your time here, are you?
B:No, I’mratherbusy, in fact.
They walkedratherslowly.
I’m afraid I behavedratherbadly.
See also:
Quite
Ratherwith adjective + noun
Witha/anwe usually userather a/an+ adjective + noun, but we can also usea rather+ adjective + noun. With other determiners (some, those) we use determiner +rather+ adjective + noun:
We had to waitrather along time.(or, less common,We had to waitaratherlong time.)
He helped her out ofrather anuncomfortable situation.(orHe helped her out ofa ratheruncomfortable situation.)
I hadsome ratherbad news today.
Not:I had rather some bad news today.
Rather a+ noun
Rather awith a noun is more common in formal language than in informal language, particularly in writing:
It wasrather asurprise to find them in the house before me.
Rather a lot
We often useratherwitha lotto refer to large amounts and quantities:
It cost merather a lotof money.
You’ve given merather a lot.
We also userather a lotto mean ‘often’:
They went thererather a lot.
You’ll be seeingrather a lotof me over the next few weeks.
Rather+ verb
We can useratherto emphasise verbs. We use it most commonly with verbs such asenjoy, hope, like:
I wasratherhoping you’d forgotten about that.
Heratherliked the idea of a well-paid job in Japan.
Rather: comparison
We useratherwithmoreandless+ an adjective or adverb in formal writing to make a comparison with something:
Quite probably you simply didn’t realise that peas and beans and sweet-corn are such valuable vegetables, and you will now continue to eat themrathermore frequentlybecause you like them anyway.
Now that she saw Rupert again, he wasrather lessinterestingand a little older than she had remembered him.
Rather like
We useratherwithliketo refer to similarities. We userather liketo mean ‘quite similar to’:
They were small animals,rather likerats.
I was in the middle. I feltrather likea referee at a football match trying to be fair and keep the sides apart.
See also:
Quite
Comparison: adjectives (bigger,biggest,more interesting)
Ratherthan: alternatives and preferences
We userather thanto give more importance to one thing when two alternatives or preferences are being compared:
He wanted to be an actorrather thana comedian.
Can we come over on Saturdayrather thanFriday?
Rather thanusually occurs between two things which are being compared. However, we can also use it at the beginning of a sentence. When we userather thanwith a verb, we use the base form or (less commonly) the-ingform of a verb:
Rather thanpay the taxi fare, he walked home.(orRather thanpaying the taxi fare, he walked home.)
Not:Rather than to pay…
See also:
Would rather
Or rather
We useor ratherto correct ourselves:
He commanded and I obeyed,or rather, I pretended to.
Thanks to his efforts,or ratherthe efforts of his employees, they made a decent profit.