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Why is "rather than" preferable to "instead o

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Why is "rather than" preferable to "instead o

by kittymctaco » Sat Mar 24, 2012 3:35 am
Anarchists believe that the ideal society is one in which the motivation to maintain law and order lies in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than in the threat of force.

a lies in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than in the threat of force
b lie in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than in the threat of force
c lays in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than the threat of force
d lay in the innate reasonableness of human nature instead of the threat of force
e lies in the innate reasonableness of human nature instead of the threat of force

I choose e instead of a (ha ha). Can someone explain why "rather than" is preferable to "instead of"?

Thanks,
Rebecca
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by Abhishek009 » Sat Mar 24, 2012 4:37 am
kittymctaco wrote:Anarchists believe that the ideal society is one in which the motivation to maintain law and order lies in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than in the threat of force.

a lies in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than in the threat of force
b lie in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than in the threat of force
c lays in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than the threat of force
d lay in the innate reasonableness of human nature instead of the threat of force
e lies in the innate reasonableness of human nature instead of the threat of force

I choose e instead of a (ha ha). Can someone explain why "rather than" is preferable to "instead of"?

Thanks,
Rebecca

Rather than - shows preference. This expression is generally used in 'parallel' structures.

Instead of - suggests that one person, thing or action replaces another.
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by scholardream » Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:05 am
Hi,
I chose (E) over (A) because 'rather than' refers to comparison while 'instead of' refers to selection (for this one not that one).
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by avik.ch » Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:51 pm
its parallelism,

lies in the innate reasonableness of human nature rather than
in the threat of force

instead of - is always followed by a noun/noun phrase, as an object of a preposition
rather that - can be followed by a clause or by a noun/noun phrase, In fact anything.

Both are parallelism marker.
Rather than - shows preference. This expression is generally used in 'parallel' structures.

Instead of - suggests that one person, thing or action replaces another.
Can you please show me one instance, where OG have tested this. This difference is much dependent on writer's preference.
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