prefer to do sth.rather than do sth.“寧愿做...而不做...” I prefer to watch TV rather than go out.我寧愿呆在家里也不出去.
prefer A to B
在本句型中,A與B是平行結構,可以是名詞,也可以都是動名詞.例如：
I prefer dogs to cats.在狗與貓之間我更喜歡狗.
Most people prefer trains to buses.大多數(shù)人愿意坐火車而不愿坐汽車.
I prefer writing a term paper to taking an examination.
我寧愿寫一篇學期論文也不愿參加考試.
I prefer staying at home to going ou.我覺得在家里比出去好.
Thousands of children nowadays prefer doing their homework to a background of pop-music to doing it in a quiet room.
成千上萬的孩子如今一邊聽流行音樂一邊做作業(yè),也不愿在安安靜靜的房間里做.
She has always preferred marking her own clothes rather than buying them in the shops.
她向來喜歡自己做衣服,而不到商店里去買衣服
Prefer+不定式+rather than+不定式
1) 本句型中,第一個不定式前面要加to,第二個不定式前面以不加to居多.例如：
He prefer to die rather than become traitor.她寧死也不做叛徒.
Older people often fear change.They know what they can do best.They prefer to repeat their successes rather than risk failure.
年紀大的人常常怕變化.他們知道什么最拿手,寧愿把自己成功的經(jīng)驗在如法炮制而不愿冒失敗的危險.
She preferred to sew rather than to knit.她喜歡縫紉而不喜歡編織.
2)rather than 也可以至于句首：
Rather than buy a car of his own,he prefers to rent one.
3） than后也可用動名詞：
I prefer to stay at home rather than go/going to see a film.
我覺得與其去看電影倒不如呆在家里.
I would prefer to spend the weekend at home rather than drive/driving all the way to your mother’s.
我覺得與其開車跑那么遠的路到你母親那里度周末,到布熱在家里過更好些.
4） prefer …rather than 中的rather也可以移到第一個不定式之前（prefer rather…than）,這種用法多見于書面語.例如：
He preferred rather to take the whole blame himself than to allow it to fall on the innocent.她寧可自己承擔全部責任而不愿讓無辜的人受到連累.
5） prefer to do A rather than do B 意義相同,試比較：
Joe prefers skating to skiing.
Joe prefer to skate rather than ski.
Bill preferred playing soccer to swimming.
Bill preferred to play soccer rather than swim.
He preferred rating a car to having one of his own.
He prefers to rent a car rather than to have one of his own.
他寧愿租車也不愿買車.
6） 用prefer…rather than代替prefer…to連接名詞的情形偶爾也可見到.如：
Mr.Brunner prefers chemistry rather than physics.
有人認為兩者的區(qū)別是：prefer…to表示一般的傾向,prefer…rather than則表示在某種具體場合的選擇.如:
What shall we have to drink,port or sherry?我們該喝什么呢?
I should prefer port rather than sherry.我寧愿和紅葡萄酒而不合雪利酒.