To use this phrase grammatically in a sentence, a comma must be placed before the “but.”<\/p>\n
Optionally, the word “rather” may be placed in between a pair of commas as well, although in practice this is not often done.<\/p>\n
If you want to use just the word “rather,” you need to replace the comma and the “but” with a semi-colon<\/a>, as “rather” cannot stand alone as a preposition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To use “but rather,” a comma must be placed before the word “but.”<\/p>\n This is because “but” is a conjunction and, with this particular construction, is only ever going to be used to connect two independent clauses in a sentence.<\/p>\n Much like with the word “then<\/strong><\/a>,” when a conjunction connects two independent clause a comma must be inserted before the conjunction in order for the sentence to be grammatical.<\/p>\n The word “rather” is technically a non-essential part of the sentence, meaning that its inclusion is not required for the reader to understand what is being said.<\/p>\n Because of this, “rather” can optionally be surrounded by commas.<\/p>\n However, because adding commas around “rather” is confusing and because “but rather” is somewhat of a stock phrase, most writers do not add the commas around the word “rather.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “The banker was pleased not because he had earned a lot of money, but rather because the work day was over and he could go home to his family.”<\/em><\/p>\n Here, the contrast is emphasized by the phrase “but rather,” showing that the banker is not obsessed with money as we might first assume.<\/p>\n “The flowers do not smell sweet, but, rather, excrete a rotting smell to attract flies.”<\/em><\/p>\n The sheer number commas in this second example make it clear why authors often skip the optional commas around “rather.”<\/p>\n Again, these are technically grammatical but, because they do not aid in clarity, are often left out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The words “but” and “rather” both mean more or less the same thing and are used in effectively the same way in a sentence.<\/p>\n So why not just use one? Although “but rather” might seem redundant, that redundancy serves to emphasize the contrast between the two different parts of the sentence.<\/p>\n That said, you certainly can grammatically just use the word “rather” if you would prefer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you want to just use “rather,” you will need to make sure that the word is preceded by a semi-colon, as in this case “rather” cannot grammatically follow a comma.<\/p>\n Note that “rather” can also be used in other contexts, and in some of these it may in fact require a comma<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n However, when it comes to the phrase “but rather,” if you drop the “but” you absolutely need a semi-colon. This is because you are actually replacing the word “but” with that semi-colon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “I didn’t order milk; rather, I asked for apple juice.”<\/p>\n “The military did not attack in order to conquer an enemy; rather, they were concerned for the safety of their people.”<\/p>\n Here, a semi-colon is used to show that these clauses are independent. Although the meaning is similar to “but rather,” there is arguably less contrast without the word “but.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Don’t forget that “rather” can also be used as an adverb to mean something like “very.”<\/p>\nUsing “but rather” with commas<\/h2>\n
Examples<\/h3>\n
Why not just say “rather” or “but”?<\/h2>\n
Rather without the but<\/h2>\n
Examples<\/h3>\n
Alert! “Rather” can also be an adverb<\/h2>\n