Rather than、would rather、had rather、had better长得这么相似，那它们的区别都在哪里呢?你都知道吗?

Rather than

Rather than 意为着代替或偏爱某物。

例句：

Rather than complicating matters further, we should just let Martha deal with it herself.

我们应该让玛莎自己处理这事，而不是使事情更复杂。

Would rather / had rather

它们的意义相同——即当你喜欢拥有或做一件事而不是另一件事。但是“had rather”更古老，不如“would rather”常用。一般来说，常用于缩写形式(I'd rather)，所以常常并不能确定是哪个词组，但它们含义相同!

例句：

“Would you like to go to Sarah's house for dinner tonight?”

“你今晚想去莎拉家吃饭吗?”

“I'd rather stay at home” (I would rather stay at home / I had rather stay at home)

“我宁愿呆在家里”(意义相同，但是形式不同)

Had better

Had better在给人建议或告诉别人该做什么时使用。意为现在或将来，而不是过去。一般使用had，而不是have。had better之后，使用不带to不定式。Had better和“should”意思相同。

例句：

We had better leave early if we don't want to get stuck in traffic. (we should leave early if we don't want to get stuck in traffic – advice/suggestion)

如果不想堵车的话，我们最好早点走。(如果不想堵车的话，我们应该早点出发)。