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What's the difference between following sentence:

She kept herself rather to herself in her own pantry.

and

She rather kept herself to herself in her own pantry.

Are there some omitted words in the former?

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    Masa.K is a brand new contributor folks. So it would be nice if anyone who felt they absolutely had to downvote the question (but it's not that objectionable, is it?) were to at least explain why.
    – user8719
    Commented Mar 27, 2022 at 8:00
  • @Eden0516 thanks for the edit, but for next time: it's omitted with double t
    – Glorfindel ♦
    Commented Mar 27, 2022 at 13:42

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The word "rather" could mean one of two things. One is something like "a little" or "somewhat". The other is something like "instead". It's impossible to say which it is (although the first would be my guess) without the surrounding context.

However, regardless of which of those two meanings was intended, changing the position of "rather" has no effect. Both versions of the sentence mean the same, and both are acceptable. (However, see Seeowjooheng's answer concerning splitting an idiom.)

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Edit

1

She kept herself rather to herself in her own pantry.

2

She rather kept herself to herself in her own pantry.

keep oneself to oneself is an idiom and should not be split.

(2) is hence more appropriate. Alternatively, you could consider

She rather kept to herself in her own pantry.

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  • why do you think these examples are incorrect?
    – David Siegel
    Commented Mar 27, 2022 at 4:00
  • Thx, @David Siegel. I have edited my answer.
    – Seowjooheng Singapore
    Commented Mar 27, 2022 at 4:40
  • the former sentence is an excerpt from a well-known ghost story published around 1900. Since the work is still being read today, I don't think the sentence is incomprehensible….
    – Masa.K
    Commented Mar 27, 2022 at 6:27
  • @Masa.K, I don't think comprehensiveness is the issue. Both are fine from that point of view. But I agree with Seowjooheng Singapore in that it is better to avoid splitting the idiom. That is not a hard, of course, and fast (😉) rule. But since we're in ELL, it seems a useful one to stick to.
    – user8719
    Commented Mar 27, 2022 at 7:56
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    @tkp, thank you so much. This is a quote from M.R.James' short story "Lost heart". However, there is a correction. The exact quote was "~ the butler, who as a rule kept himself rather to himself in his own pantry." My apologies.
    – Masa.K
    Commented Mar 27, 2022 at 8:52

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