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SC - Rather X than Y(Manhattan Flash Card Doubt)

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SC - Rather X than Y(Manhattan Flash Card Doubt)

by goelmohit2002 » Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:34 am
Hi All,

In the Manhattan SC flash cards available at:

https://www.manhattangmat.com/pdf/FlashC ... e_2009.pdf

page#83....

the sentence given is
"The nation's president would rather misappropriate foreign aid than actually attempting to help those in need."

Flash cards say the above is wrong....

Reason: "This question is about parallelism. Elements in theconstruction "rather X than Y" must be parallel."

Can someone please tell what is the correct idiom

a) X rather than Y
b) or Rather X than Y.
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by scoobydooby » Mon Oct 05, 2009 3:24 am
the idiom is "rather x than y", where x and y must be parallel.
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by goelmohit2002 » Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:06 am
scoobydooby wrote:the idiom is "rather x than y", where x and y must be parallel.
but till now I read that X rather than Y is the correct idiom :-(
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by scoobydooby » Tue Oct 06, 2009 2:18 am
guess both forms would work

if x and y are verbs, then rather x than y is used
if x and y are nouns, then x rather than y is used
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by lunarpower » Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:28 am
scoobydooby wrote:guess both forms would work

if x and y are verbs, then rather x than y is used
if x and y are nouns, then x rather than y is used
hi - received a p.m. asking for a comment.

note that you can use "rather than" with essentially any part of speech whatsoever.

if the usage involves any part of speech OTHER THAN VERBS, then you should use "X rather than Y".
ex:
the students painted their faces blue rather than red. (adjectives)
i spent the money on food rather than on water. (prepositional phrases)
i bought food rather than water. (nouns)
etc.

with VERBS, it's a little more complicated.
if you need to express a PREFERENCE THAT IS HYPOTHETICAL (i.e., not pertaning to a decision that has already been made/determined), then you use "...would rather VERB1 than VERB2".
ex:
i would rather listen to the album than go to the concert.


if you need to express the OUTCOME of a PAST DECISION, or of a PRESENT OR FUTURE OUTCOME THAT IS ALREADY CERTAIN, then you use "VERB1 rather than VERB2".
ex:
whenever we only need a couple of yards, our quarterback usually opts to run the ball rather than throw it.
or
brash and impulsive, james would always act immediately rather than reflect on his options.
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