1、后接不定式时与ratherthan 或insteadof连用,
如:He prefered to die rather than (to)steal. / He perfered to die instead of stealing.他宁死也不去偷窃。
1)本句型中,第一个不定式前面要加to,第二个不定式前面以不加to居多。例如:
Heprefer to die rather than becometraitor.她宁死也不做叛徒。
Older people often fear change. They know what they can do best.They prefer to repeat their successes rather than riskfailure.
年纪大的人常常怕变化。他们知道什么最拿手,宁愿把自己成功的经验在如法炮制而不愿冒失败的危险。
She preferred to sew rather than to knit.
她喜欢缝纫而不喜欢编织。
2)rather than也可以至于句首:
Ratherthan buy a car of his own, he prefers to rent one.
3)than后也可用动名词:
Iprefer to stay at home rather than go/going to see afilm.
我觉得与其去看电影倒不如呆在家里。
I would prefer tospend the weekend at home rather than drive/driving all the way toyour mother's.
我觉得与其开车跑那么远的路到你母亲那里度周末,到不如在家里过更好些。
4)prefer …ratherthan中的rather也可以移到第一个不定式之前(preferrather…than),这种用法多见于书面语。例如:
Hepreferred rather to take the whole blame himself than to allow itto fall on the innocent.她宁可自己承担全部责任而不愿让无辜的人受到连累。
5)prefer to do A rather than do B意义相同,试比较:
Joe prefers skating to skiing.
Joe prefer to skate rather than ski.
Bill preferred playing soccer to swimming.
Bill preferred to play soccer rather than swim.
He preferred rating a car to having one of his own.
He prefers to rent a car rather than to have one of hisown.
他宁愿租车也不愿买车。
6)用prefer…ratherthan代替prefer…to连接名词的
形偶尔也可见到。如:
Mr. Brunner prefers chemistry rat[]her than physics.
有人认为两者的区别是:prefer…to表示一般的倾向,prefer…ratherthan则表示在某种具体场合的选择。如:
What shall we haveto drink, port or sherry? 我们喝
么呢?
I should preferport rather than sherry. 我宁愿和
葡萄酒而不合雪利酒。
7) prefer +that从句
Would you prefer that I come on Monday instead of on
Tuesday?
你宁愿让星期一来而不是星期二来吗
Iprefer that someone else should do this.
我觉得还是让别人来做这件事比较好。