rather 以及 prefer

Basically they are the same just the way they connect with verb:

would rather + V: I would rather work alone

(would) prefer + to V : I would prefer to work alone

If you want to use negative by adding "not", you shall do:

would rather NOT V I would rather not work alone

(would) prefer NOT + to V I would prefer not to work alone.

Also, you need to know "prefer" is a verb, but "rather" is an adverb.

Hence, you can say:

He is a rather nice boy, and I rather prefer him.




2012-04-27 01:28:44 補充：
In a word, "would prefer" or "would rather" all can use to express "preference", even though they got translated differently: "rather" is 寧可, 寧願, and "prefer" is 更喜歡 (of course, it can still be translated as 寧可, 寧願).

2012-04-27 01:29:56 補充：
Due their function as a word, they are constructed differently in sentence.

I would rather work alone. 被迫無奈做選擇(較消極)
I would prefer to work alone. 有多樣可自由選擇 (較積極)。二者語意有差異----------

因為你一開始就把意思弄錯了，rather的意思是“寧願，寧可”。

I would rather work alone = 我寧願自己一人工作。
I would prefer to work alone = 我比較喜歡一人工作。

兩者意思根本完全不同。

2012-04-27 01:05:29 補充：
雖然"rather"也可譯為“稍微”，但不是用在這種情況下。

He's rather cute.
I'm feeling rather sleepy.

這種情況下rather才是“稍微、有點”的意思。

最簡單區分的方法是看rather前面是不是連would，基本上只要看到"would rather"，那就是“寧可”的意思。