Did you think about the distinction of "prefer" and "rather" ?

Question

Please  explain  to  me  to  all   learner

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

He's asking about the distinction between "prefer" and "rather"
(the title doesn't show up correctly in the thread, not sure why)

Aperisic · Answer

prefer is a verb = like better

I prefer, you prefer, he prefers, we prefer... I preferred, they preferred, you have preferred

I prefer that cake
I prefer staying home.

rather

somewhat, considerably, more willingly, with more justification, on contrary

I like rather that cake.
I rather stay home.
You should be there rather than here.
You think she's nice? Rather, I would say that she only dresses well.

rather

I would rather stay here.
I would prefer staying here.

rather

prefer

I rather [what action to do]
I prefer [what thing]

I rather prefer

prefer

rather

Marius Hancu · Answer

AperisicYou can confuse these only in specific expressions like

I would rather stay here.
I would prefer staying here.I think you should say what you prefer to write/say in such situations.

Aperisic · Answer

Marius Hancu
AperisicYou can confuse these only in specific expressions like

I would rather stay here.
I would prefer staying here.I think you should say what you prefer to write/say in such situations.

Well, I would prefer staying here sounds slightly redundant for me because would works on its own I would like staying here, I would stay here both already say what you prefer.

I would rather stay here is fine, it suggests that you have more options but you select one - to stay here, or that you are already in the place you like but you were asked to move somewhere else.

However I would prefer, I would use, when no new suggestions is given to me and I select from the options that I have in my mind or when I want to be really polite when I would prefer = I prefer.

Another example of the same kind: you can hear I will rather die, I'll rather die and equally I prefer to die. I would rather die is de facto the standard, but very rarely, though it is possible and used, I would prefer to die

Anyhow, this part of the post is just me.

But, these two examples are given to illustrate the difference, I did not think about their separate or better usage. I guess other people feel different and could find other usages for both or better examples that might illustrate everything in a different manner.

Both rather and prefer are similar only in that that there are some options to select from. But their usage is completely different.

Did you think about the distinction of "prefer" and "rather" ?

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