rather
part of speech
adverb (rather); in phrases (would rather, rather than)
meaning for a pupil
1) Rather means quite or a little, like «rather cold». tree →
2) «Would rather» means would prefer: «I'd rather walk». tree →
3) «Rather than» means instead of. tree →
4) «Or rather» is used to correct yourself and say something more exactly. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Psalms and Proverbs it means "in preference to" or "more than". Wisdom is chosen rather than gold. A wicked person loves falsehood rather than righteousness, and Job's soul chooses death rather than pain. Interpretation: The tradition reads Proverbs as teaching that wisdom is worth more than silver and gold. The words about choosing between good and evil are taken as the test of a person's heart. In the primary lessons: In everyday talk, children say what they would rather do when choosing. In stories, rather is a softer way to say quite or very («It was rather dark»). In maths word problems, «rather than» shows a choice or a change. Phrases: would rather, I'd rather not, rather than, or rather, rather a lot.
examples
- SY 2:1, 3:1, so it is interesting that in this verse the tongue is rather portrayed as one of two binary poles. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
- However, this is grammatically peculiar, as immot is usually only the construct plural of אֵם em 'mother', whose absolute plural is rather אִמָּהוֹת immahot. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
- The meaning for the SY is: God did not make things by themselves, individually, but rather, He made all things in relationship to all other things. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
- Thou lovest evil more than good; falsehood rather than speaking righteousness. (Writings PSA.52.5, JPS 1917) tree →
- Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. (Writings PRO.8.10, JPS 1917) tree →
- So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than these my bones. (Writings JOB.7.15, JPS 1917) tree →
- It's rather cold today, so take a coat. tree →
- I'd rather have pizza than pasta. tree →
- Would you rather swim or cycle? tree →
- She chose to walk rather than take the bus. tree →
- I'd rather not talk about it. tree →
- He was rather tired after the match. tree →
- The test was rather easy. tree →
- We left at six, or rather a bit after six. tree →
- ‘Happy!’ cried he; ‘say rather unhappy. tree →
note
«Would rather» is followed by the base verb: «I'd rather go», not «I'd rather to go». «Rather» is British-sounding when it means quite; Americans often say «pretty». «Would you rather…?» is a popular question game.
In the corpora
- For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.
- Thou lovest evil more than good; falsehood rather than speaking righteousness.
- Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.
- How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! yea, to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver.
- Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «rather» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.