Rather than

[Sultano]

Here is a sentence:
"Environmentalists had urged that oil be transported to the USA by land-based piplines rather than by oil tanker.or by undersae pipeline to reduce the potential damage to the environmentposed by thethreat of an oil spill."

the question iswhat does "Rather than"mean......?
could you gie nme more examples
thank you

[Alan]

hi,

This means 'in preference to' - I would like to travel by boat in preference to travelling by plane.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/take

[Sultano]

but what does it mean when we say:
it's rather good.
it's quite good.
what is the difference? does rather refers to the negation.

[Alan]

In your examples 'rather' has the suggestion of to a 'large extent' and 'quite' 'to a small extent'.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story A day in the life of a stately home owner

[lost_soul]

Hi, Alan

I discovered that rather might mean quite; to a slight degree
It's rather cold today, isn't it?
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=65551&dict=CALD

and at the same time it might mean very; to a large degree
I've got rather a lot of work to do at the moment
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=65552&dict=CALD

Do you think it is a relevant piece of information and do you agree that "rather" has some ambiguity in its meaning?
_________________
Alex

"Noone has ever escaped from Stalag 13"
Colonel Klink, Kommandant of Stalag 13

[Alan]

Hi,

To me 'rather cold' means it's too cold or excessively so.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/run

[Yankee]

.
In AmE the word 'quite' means 'very' (i.e. to a large degree):

It's quite cold. = It's very cold.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[lost_soul]

Hi, Amy

But we were talking about rather, not quite What is your take on rather ?
_________________
Alex

"Noone has ever escaped from Stalag 13"
Colonel Klink, Kommandant of Stalag 13

[Yankee]

[lost_soul]

Hi, Amy

Thank you.
_________________
Alex

"Noone has ever escaped from Stalag 13"
Colonel Klink, Kommandant of Stalag 13

[Yankee]

Hi again, LS

I'd like to add that my American ear has had years of experience with British English. I'm familiar with the British usage(s) of 'quite', but the usage in AmE is different.

I agree that the word 'rather' is somewhat more ambiguous. To me, if you say "It's rather cold", the word 'rather' acts to intensify the idea that there is a noticeable degree of coldness. However, I guess if you asked someone to decide which is colder -- "rather cold" or "quite cold" -- an American would probably pick "quite cold" as being colder than "rather cold". I also think that intonation would have some impact here, too.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English