Prefer to or than

Question

He went on: "If we see the national interest of Afghanistan undermined, and we see our people are pushed again into margins through a deal, we would prefer a dignified resistance than a disgraceful peace.

This is an excerpt from BBC news. I have been taught that "prefer" always takes "to" preposition. My question is has the rule changed or if it is a typo?

Thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

He went on: "If we see the national interest of Afghanistan undermined, and we see our people are pushed again into margins through a deal, we would prefer a dignified resistance thana disgraceful peace.

This is an excerpt from BBC news. I have been taught that "prefer" always takes "to" preposition. My question is has the rule changed or if it is a typo?

People do say eg I prefer Coke rather than Pepsi, so I suppose you could argue that it's OK to omit the

'rather'.

Nevertheless, your sentence does sound a little unusual to me. I note that the person who said it is apparently not a native speaker. "Pushed . . . into margins" is another phrase that, as quoted, sounds slightly 'off'.

Clive

Prefer to or than

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