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I'd like o know which form of verb should follow "rather than" in the following:

John prefers to watch TV rather than play/playing basketball.

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  • Both verbs should be in the same form - prefers to watch rather than play or prefers watching to playing.
    – Kate Bunting
    Oct 7, 2021 at 16:12

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The two verbs should be in the same form.

  • John prefers to watch TV rather than play basketball. Correct, shown by green check mark
  • John prefers watching TV to playing basketball. Correct, shown by green check mark
  • John prefers to watch TV rather than playing basketball. enter image description here
  • John prefers watching TV to play basketball. enter image description here

The 4th could be correct with a very different meaning if watching TV was a means of playing basketball, perhaps in a video game form. But it can't be used to mean anything like the first two. In practice, this is most likely to be a simple error.

I also think that "rather than" doesn't sound natural with the "-ing" forms, so I have modified that example.

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