"Rather than" can take a gerund or bare infinitive ("rather than doing/do"); "instead of" ALWAYS takes a gerund ("instead of doing" — NEVER "instead of to do"). Both express preference/substitution but differ in structure and nuance.
RATHER THAN: connector expressing that an action is PREFERRED or CHOSEN over another. Two possible structures: (1) RATHER THAN + GERUND: "Rather than sending a long email, she scheduled a brief call." (2) RATHER THAN + BARE INFINITIVE: "Rather than send a long email, she scheduled a brief call." (both accepted). In formal English, when RATHER THAN connects two parallel clauses, the bare infinitive is slightly more elegant. RATHER THAN can be placed: (a) at the start of the sentence (contrasting two full clauses): "Rather than renegotiate, they walked away." (b) in the middle connecting two parallel verbs: "They walked away rather than renegotiate the terms." RATHER THAN implies the subject ACTIVELY PREFERS one option over another — there is an evaluation of preference.
Rather than continuing to invest in the legacy infrastructure, the board decided to accelerate the transition to a cloud-native architecture.
The negotiating team chose to walk away from the table rather than accept terms that would have significantly undermined the company's long-term margins.
Rather than treating each customer complaint as an isolated incident, the quality team began using them as a data source for identifying systemic process failures.
INSTEAD OF: connector expressing SUBSTITUTION — that something happens IN PLACE OF something else. SINGLE STRUCTURE: INSTEAD OF + GERUND (always). "Instead of sending an email, she called." "Instead of attending the full conference, she joined only the key sessions." NEVER: "Instead of to send" = INCORRECT. "Instead of send" = INCORRECT. INSTEAD OF only takes a gerund. NUANCE DIFFERENCE: RATHER THAN = active and deliberate preference (I chose this RATHER THAN that). INSTEAD OF = simple substitution without emphasis on preference (this happened IN PLACE OF that). "Instead of" is more neutral and descriptive. "Rather than" implies a conscious judgment or evaluation.
Instead of scheduling a formal committee meeting, the project sponsor sent a detailed written briefing to all stakeholders for asynchronous review and comment.
The finance team recommended using the surplus cash to pay down existing debt instead of distributing it to shareholders as a special dividend at this stage.
Instead of hiring external consultants, the company decided to upskill its own staff by partnering with a specialized training provider for a twelve-week development program.
Common mistake
MOST FREQUENT ERROR: "instead of to do" = INCORRECT. INSTEAD OF only takes a gerund. "Instead of to send" = INCORRECT. "Instead of sending" = correct. Second error: "rather than to do" in some contexts sounds archaic or incorrect. In modern standard English: RATHER THAN + gerund or bare infinitive (both accepted). RATHER THAN + to-infinitive = acceptable in some contexts but sounds less natural in contemporary English. Third: confusing INSTEAD OF (substitution) and RATHER THAN (preference) at the semantic level. "Rather than" implies deliberate choice. "Instead of" can simply mean that something happened in place of something else without a value judgment.
Trick to remember it
THE "OF" RULE: INSTEAD OF = compound preposition ("instead" + "of"). The preposition OF always requires a gerund in English: "by doing," "for doing," "of doing," "instead of DOING." If you see OF = gerund. RATHER THAN = comparative conjunction (contains no preposition), which is why it accepts both gerund and bare infinitive. Association: INSTEAD OF = "in place" + "of" => OF => gerund. RATHER THAN = "rather" + "than" => conjunction => gerund or infinitive. Nuance substitution test: do you mean "I preferred X over Y" (evaluation)? = rather than. Do you mean "X happened in place of Y" (descriptive substitution)? = instead of.
Quick rule
Instead of + gerund ALWAYS (never to-infinitive). Rather than + gerund or bare infinitive (both). Nuance: rather than = active preference. Instead of = descriptive substitution. "Instead of to send" = INCORRECT. "Rather than sending/send" = both correct.
Did you know?
The distinction between RATHER THAN and INSTEAD OF is a perfect example of how conjunctions and prepositions in English generate different structures despite expressing related meanings. From a diachronic (historical evolution) perspective, INSTEAD OF is a prepositional phrase that emerged from Middle English "in the stead of" (= "in the place of"), where "stead" meant "place." The same "stead" appears in "homestead" and "steadfast" (remaining in place). RATHER THAN has a different origin: "rather" comes from Old English "hrathor" (sooner, more quickly), and evolved to mean "preferably" or "on the contrary." The difference in origin explains why INSTEAD OF retains the preposition OF (and therefore governs a gerund) while RATHER THAN functions as a comparative conjunction.
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
The new sustainability policy encourages employees to take public transport _____ driving to the office, particularly for those living within a fifteen-kilometer radius.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
The leadership team chose to address the performance issues directly _____ delegating the difficult conversations to HR, which they felt was their responsibility as managers.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Instead of + gerund ALWAYS (never to-infinitive). Rather than + gerund or bare infinitive (both). Nuance: rather than = active preference. Instead of = descriptive substitution. "Instead of to send" = INCORRECT. "Rather than sending/send" = both correct.
MOST FREQUENT ERROR: "instead of to do" = INCORRECT. INSTEAD OF only takes a gerund. "Instead of to send" = INCORRECT. "Instead of sending" = correct. Second error: "rather than to do" in some contexts sounds archaic or incorrect. In modern standard English: RATHER THAN + gerund or bare infinitive (both accepted). RATHER THAN + to-infinitive = acceptable in some contexts but sounds less natural in contemporary English. Third: confusing INSTEAD OF (substitution) and RATHER THAN (preference) at the semantic level. "Rather than" implies deliberate choice. "Instead of" can simply mean that something happened in place of something else without a value judgment.
THE "OF" RULE: INSTEAD OF = compound preposition ("instead" + "of"). The preposition OF always requires a gerund in English: "by doing," "for doing," "of doing," "instead of DOING." If you see OF = gerund. RATHER THAN = comparative conjunction (contains no preposition), which is why it accepts both gerund and bare infinitive. Association: INSTEAD OF = "in place" + "of" => OF => gerund. RATHER THAN = "rather" + "than" => conjunction => gerund or infinitive. Nuance substitution test: do you mean "I preferred X over Y" (evaluation)? = rather than. Do you mean "X happened in place of Y" (descriptive substitution)? = instead of.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy