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A person was humorously saying:
Go straight ahead and you'll see a big hotel, there you'll find a nice concrete road on the left....(pause).... don't take the road but rather take the narrow street on the right.
Is but rather the same as rather than?
Is the use of but rather valid in this context?
Thanks in advance.
‘But rather’ is not the same as ‘rather than’. ‘But rather’ means ‘but instead’, or ‘but rather than’. So in that context, it would be
Don’t take the road, but instead take the narrow street on the right.
So ‘but rather’ shows that the first clause isn’t correct, but the second one is.
‘Rather than’, however, shows the opposite: it indicates that the second thing mentioned is correct. So you might say
Rather than taking the road, take the narrow street on the right.
Hope that helps!
Yes it's valid.
The following all mean the same:
1. "... don't take the road, but take the narrow street on the right."
2. "... don't take the road, but rather take the narrow street on the right."
3. "... don't take the road, but instead take the narrow street on the right."
The words "rather" and "instead" are ways of emphasizing the meaning in 1.
