This is the Business English Podcast, episode 497.
Is there a difference between instead of and rather?
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Hey, Michelle, how's it going today?
I'm doing well.
Lindsay, um...
Should we meet to record at 11 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. next week?
Oh, good question.
Yeah, I'd say let's go for 11 instead of 10, just because it's going to be a busy morning for me over here.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Sounds good.
Okay.
Decision made.
Decision made.
Decision made.
Guys, today we are going to answer a listener question, a really good one, that came to us from YouTube.
Lindsay, this is from Sabir.
Would you like to read the question?
Yes.
And we love when we find our listener questions over in YouTube.
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Here's the question.
This is from Frakirzoy5934.
Hi there.
Thank you for your incredible teaching.
My name is Sabir and I'm from Afghanistan.
And I have one question for you.
What is the difference between rather than and instead of?
If you can make a video lesson about it, I would really appreciate your kindness.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
Great question.
Thank you so much, Sabir.
Very useful for business.
I wanted to take this for business because there's a lot of decisions being made, giving options, talking about decisions and very important for business for sure.
Yes.
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Yes.
All right.
So we're going to go into a a lot of different angles of this.
We're looking at some grammar today, Michelle, looking at meanings.
Where do we start?
All right.
So first of all, I mean, just your opinion, Lindsay.
Yeah.
Would you say instead of or rather than feels more common for you in everyday life?
I personally think instead of feels more common for me.
It's just it feels a little more casual, a little more everyday language.
Mm-hmm.
But is it is it too casual for business?
No, no, no, absolutely not.
No, it's functional.
It's functional.
Yeah.
And I think that I am more likely to see.
What I notice is that rather than is more formal in for writing like a more in a paper.
Would you agree?
Yeah, I think I do think there's something that's a little more elevated about rather than.
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, you can say it, you can say it.
Absolutely.
Of course.
It's just not quite as natural to me.
It's not going to pop into my head as what to use, um, instead of would be the one for, for me.
I mean, these are really very similar, aren't they, Michelle?
I mean... Very similar.
Yes.
So let's talk about some of the differences, some that we found in our research and our opinions on it.
So, I mean, when you think of the word rather, we think of kind of a preference.
Yeah.
So this is a bit more what you want.
Instead of is more a bit about what's being switched, about the replacement.
Okay.
So...
Let's do some examples, and we can talk through our opinions here.
The first one is, I think we should switch the meeting to Tuesday rather than cancel it altogether.
Yeah.
Again, very similar to saying instead of canceling it altogether, right?
Mm-hmm.
And, like we said, you did a little research online Michelle, and a lot of people believe that that's true, that it's more about opinion.
Mm-hmm. we're not sure 100% if we agree with that, right?
We're not.
Yeah.
Yeah, we think they're pretty interchangeable, right?
Right.
Right.
It's more and we're gonna get and we're gonna get into this later.
We're gonna spend some good time talking about the grammar.
That's where I think the differences really lie.
I think it's a little bit hard to say oh, this one, like I think, okay for for sure, I would say rather than is a little bit more elevated and more written for a formal report, something like that.
And then I would take the grammar piece, but we did wanna highlight things that we've also seen in research and how it could work.
So Lindsay, what's another one?
She chose to make the meeting a lunch and learn rather than hold a Zoom call.
All right.
Or rather than start with a slide, we should open with a conversation.
So again, you might see it at the beginning.
But yeah, it might be a little bit more about what someone prefers, but again, not a hard and fast rule.
But let's move on to instead of.
Okay, let's move on to instead of.
So This is really about replacements, swapping one thing in for another, right?
So for example, he ordered the folders instead of the binders.
Or they placed the job ad in a Facebook group instead of on LinkedIn.
It's like option A, option B, you swapped option A for option B. Really pretty straightforward.
Right.
Right.
So that it might be more of what the focus is on.
But we're going to get more into the grammar right after the break.
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All right, Michelle, we are back from break.
So there is more to discuss here.
Right?
Yes.
A lot.
And I'm going to highlight the most important things today as far as what you need to know for grammar.
We're not going to necessarily hit on everything.
We can always do a follow-up.
But the main things are coming up.
So definitely listen up.
Take notes, guys, because we're getting into some nitty-gritty grammar.
Okay.
I'm ready.
Okay.
So with rather than.
We use a parallel structure, meaning a verb and a verb on.
You know we're going to use a verb rather than another verb.
Okay so, for example, he emails rather than calls.
Okay, emails rather than calls, it's all around.
Um, so the email, the verbs.
There are emails and calls and they're in the same structure.
So that's parallel structure.
What about a noun and a noun here with parallel structure?
What would that sound like?
Yeah, Exactly.
So we should have a conference call rather than an in-person meeting today.
So conference call, in-person meeting.
It's parallel.
We wouldn't want to switch it.
We wouldn't switch it then.
We wouldn't say we should have a conference call rather than meeting.
Well, sorry, that's a noun.
That's a gerund.
So we wouldn't say rather than to meet or rather than meet.
Yeah.
Although just grammatically, that's what's correct.
But you might hear people say that.
Yeah.
You probably will hear people say it and break some rules.
So we're just giving you the rules out of the rule book.
Here's another example.
I'm going to conduct interviews on Friday rather than Thursday.
So Friday, Thursday, those are the parallels there.
Okay.
And with parallel structure here, you're only...
If you're using an infinitive, right, to and the base verb, you're only going to use that once.
So, for example, I hate to cancel on them rather than reschedule.
We wouldn't say I hate to cancel on them rather than to reschedule.
Mm-hmm.
So once you put the infinitive in the first part, you don't need it on the second part.
You just use the verb.
Okay, good to know.
So those are kind of the basics of how to structure the grammar when it comes to rather.
What about instead of, Michelle?
Yeah, so instead of the biggest thing to know is we don't use a verb after if we're not breaking the rules, right?
So only a noun or gerund right ing can come after.
So, for example, they called the doctor instead of going to the office, or the team worked late instead of missing the deadline yeah, that's important.
Or i watched the movie instead of the play yeah, Right.
I do think this is one example of if you do this wrong and if you say something like the team worked late instead of to miss the deadline, it would be a glaring error.
Right.
One of those glaring errors that just really messes things up.
Right.
Or even without the two, if you said the team worked late instead of miss the deadline and you need that ING.
So I would say this is really important here.
So just remember, when you say instead of, you're going to follow it with a noun, gerund, right?
That would be the best.
So again, think rather than, we want to make sure we have that parallel structure.
Instead of, we're going to follow it with a noun or a verb.
And you know, sometimes you might hear rather than or instead of At the beginning of a sentence, not in the middle of two things.
But yeah, you could say, instead of going to the office, they called the doctor.
That's how it would sound.
Sure, sure, sure.
And don't get confused guys, because there's another way to use, rather better, by expressing your opinion more explicitly.
Like I'd rather do this than do this.
I'd rather go to the amusement park than go to the movies.
But we can probably do another episode another day on that one, Michelle.
That's separate.
Okay.
Yep.
Yep.
Absolutely.
So, okay.
So let's, let's review, right?
First off, don't stress about it.
Basically you can use either.
I wouldn't worry about really the content of it, rather than I think would be a little bit better for writing.
Maybe it's a little less conversational, a bit more formal, and then I and then um instead of is really about that replacement and um.
You'll probably use it more frequent, more often.
Yeah.
Um, more, it's a little bit more common.
You'll hear it all the time.
Um, rather than just kind of is a little bit elevated.
Would you agree?
I agree, Michelle.
And then, of course, don't forget the parallel structure with, instead of, when you use, instead of, you need the parallel structure.
Um, instead of can only have a gerund or noun after it.
Okay.
So remember that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Important stuff.
So should we do a role play?
Yeah.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Sorry.
I misspoke.
I said when we use rather, we need that parallel structure, which is what we said.
And when we use instead of, we can only have the gerund or the noun after it.
Okay.
So just to not confuse our listeners here.
Yes.
Yes.
Let's do a role play, Michelle.
All right.
So here we are working together, making some important decisions on a meeting agenda.
I feel so important.
Yes.
Very important.
A meeting agenda outline.
All right.
Okay.
Here we go.
Here we go.
So I honestly prefer the graphs rather than the bullet points.
I get that.
So we'll use the graphs instead of showing the written out bullets.
Exactly.
I think the team will appreciate the brevity instead of dragging things on.
Oh, definitely.
I also like sitting at the round table rather than the long one.
Good idea.
We're making decisions here.
You got to think through what a meeting is going to look like.
What's the environment you want?
What's the dynamic you want?
This rather than that.
So what did we say here?
First, you said, Michelle, I honestly prefer the graphs rather than the bullet points.
Parallel structure we're implementing here, right?
And I mean, so could I have said instead of?
I honestly prefer the graphs instead of the bullet points.
I think so.
Yeah, you could.
Again, I put this with a preference one, but I don't think there's anything wrong with using, instead of
I really don't think so.
Yeah.
So here's the next part.
So we will use the graphs instead of showing the written out bullets.
So what is showing here?
That's the noun there or the gerund rather, right?
So that's the gerund.
So we said that when it comes to instead, we can only have a gerund or a noun after it.
And a gerund is basically a verb acting as a noun, right?
So there you go.
I-N-G.
And then what was the next one, Lindsay?
The next one is I think the team will appreciate the brevity instead of dragging things on.
So same idea.
Um, and then I said, then you said, I also like sitting at the round table rather than the long one.
So round table long one there.
We're using the parallel structure, and you could even rewrite this last sentence.
So I think the team will appreciate the brevity instead of dragging things on.
I might say that I might say instead of things being dragged on, um, you could say that as well.
Yeah, yeah.
And then so I'm still using my ing with the being the gerund, right?
It just changes kind of the act like who's like, what's the action that's being done?
Who's doing the action?
Right?
Yes, that could sound good as well.
And then you have the noun is also things.
So instead of things.
So, yeah, just really thinking about what is following these words, what's surrounding them.
Really grammatically, this is kind of what it's about.
I wouldn't stress about grammar. the meaning and if I should use this or this.
Yeah, that's really.
I mean.
There will tell you if there's an important tone difference in between words.
We tell you that all the time on the show and all there's English, too.
But we're also going to tell you when we found something online.
A lot of people are saying this, but we disagree, and we kind of disagree with this opinion that rather, unless you're saying I'd rather do this
Clearly, that's an opinion, right?
That's different in our minds, right?
But when we're swapping things out rather than or rather and instead are very similar in meaning.
Yeah.
Yep.
Love it.
Yeah.
Guys, check out episode 491.
We did just recently.
It was, can you guess the word Can you use the word guess at work?
Can you guess the word use?
Can you use the word guess at work?
All right, good.
Takeaway, Michelle, anything we want to leave our listeners with today?
I think you know we've kind of done a lot of takeaways today.
You know, really think about that grammar, but also just don't stress.
Don't stress.
Worry about that connection.
Think of a couple of the main rules that you've learned today.
Know that, yes, sometimes you may hear the rules being broken and broken.
And, you know, you just got to roll with it, right?
Yeah.
The goal is clarity here and ultimately connection.
So make sure that you're being clear and people are understanding what you're saying.
And then you know, like in this scenario, here with the role play, we're looking to build a great meeting and we're making important decisions.
That's what really matters here.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yep.
All right.
Well, good question.
Again, thank you so much to our listener, Sabir.
And Thank you, everyone, for listening.
And Lindsay, have a good day.
You too, Michelle.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
All right.
Bye.
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