Rather than vs. Instead of

[riderofthestorm]

In one of the questions I solved, I was stuck between two options which were identical except one of them used "rather than" and the other used "instead of".
While I was searching on the issue, I saw someone claiming that rather than is used to compare verbs and instead of is used for comparing nouns.

Is this true or is there more to this?

[RonPurewal]

hey,
"instead of" contains "of", which should be followed by a noun. so, "instead of" should be followed by a noun (or by something that acts as a noun, such as some -ing forms).

on the other hand, "rather than" can connect just about any two similarly structured things.
nouns: i decided to purchase a truck rather than a car.
adjectives: i wish this transmission were manual, rather than automatic.
etc.
also, it can connect things that aren't technically the same grammatically but that play the same grammatical role. e.g.
it's best to read the passages quickly, rather than with precise attention to every little detail.
--> here, both the adverb "quickly" and the modifier "with precise attention..." modify the action of reading the passages. so, all good.

[RonPurewal]

there's also a very slight difference in meaning. i'll bet you 99.99% that gmac will never actually test this, but ...
... "X instead of Y" means that "Y" was some sort of default / assumed / preferred outcome, but that X has been substituted for it.
... "X rather than Y" indicates no such preference; it just means that there were options X and Y, and, this time, X won.

e.g.
He paid with a check rather than cash.
--> He had two options, and chose the check.

He paid with a check instead of cash.
--> He was supposed to pay in cash, but he paid with a check.

again, the likelihood that this will ever actually be tested is pretty much nil, but, there it is.

[riderofthestorm]

As always, a great explanation. Thanks a lot Ron!

[RonPurewal]

As always, a great explanation. Thanks a lot Ron!

you're welcome.

by the way, there's no way gmac would ever give 2 answer choices that were identical except for "rather than" vs. "instead of". so, if you see that kind of trifling difference in an official problem, look around the problem for something else.

[harpreet1205]

Hey,

I read this somewhere that "rather than" is used for comparing whereas "instead of" is not..Is this correct

[harpreet1205]

Since you mentioned that instead of contains of hence it should be followed by a noun can I assume that any idiomatic expression that contains the preposition ' of ' must necessarily be followed by a noun

[RonPurewal]

Hey,

I read this somewhere that "rather than" is used for comparing whereas "instead of" is not..Is this correct

"I read somewhere..." --> where?
Always keep track of your sources.

--

No, that's not really true. See my explanation (3 posts above yours); that's about the best I can do here.

[RonPurewal]

Since you mentioned that instead of contains of hence it should be followed by a noun can I assume that any idiomatic expression that contains the preposition ' of ' must necessarily be followed by a noun

This is how "of" works in general; it's not an idiom issue at all. No need to complicate the issue by trying to tie it into the whole idiom thing.

Note, of course, that there could be adjectives or other modifiers in front of the noun; i.e., the noun doesn't have to come directly after "of", although it should be there.

[harpreet1205]

Thanks Ron.

[RonPurewal]

Thanks Ron.

Sure