instead of vs. instead 而不是 vs. 反而

instead of「而非，而不是」之意。為介系詞，後接名詞或名詞片語。of後若為動詞須改為動名詞。

instead 是副詞，後面承接子句，意為「反而」。可置於句首(加逗號)或句尾。

不管instead of 後接名詞(包含動名詞、名詞片語)因為皆翻譯成而不是，也就是被取代的事項，因此主詞所做之事為主要子句的事項。

而instead後接的子句時翻譯為「反而」，因此主詞所做之事為instead後所接的句子。

Jenny 一起床就幫助他媽媽做家事，而不是與朋友外出。

Instead of going out with friends, Jenny helped her mother with housework as soon as she got up.

→Instead of 所接為被取代之事→外出。因此主詞Jenny所做之事→幫助母親做家事。

=Jenny didn’t go out with friends. Instead, she helped her mother with housework as soon as she got up.

= Jenny didn’t go out with friends. she helped her mother with housework as soon as she got up instead.

→Instead 接主詞要做之事→幫助母親做家事。

After exercising, I think it’s better for me to drink sports drink instead of water.

運動完後，我認為對我來說喝運動飲料比喝水好。

rather than跟instead of在表達的語意上有些許的不同，rather than著重在兩個選項之間的「偏好」，instead of在兩個選項之間的「替代」感覺比較強烈。兩者皆可置於句首，但此時 Rather than 後接原形動詞，Instead of 後則接 V-ing。

Rather than spend all the money, Cindy decides to deposit NT5000 dollars in the bank every month.

Cindy決定每月存5000元台幣而不是花光所有的錢。