Rather

This word, rather, has several meanings. Therefore, its a particularly useful word in English.
Lets go over the three ways people mostly use this word.

Rather as an amplifier
Usually, we use rather this way when we want to amplify adjectives or adverbs. Its meant to
emphasize a characteristic (adjective) or a way (adverb). For example:
Taylor Swift is rather awful.
French is a rather overrated language.
Both cases have adjectives. When I say Taylor Swift is rather awful, Im not saying shes just
awful. I mean, shes very awful. Pay attention because rather is less strong than very, but you
get the idea. Same goes for the second example. French is a very overrated language. Now,
some examples with adverbs:
They saved her from drowning rather swiftly.
Polly did her chores rather quickly.
Quickly and swiftly are synonyms. Im emphasising how swiftly/quickly these actions were
done. They were done rather quickly/swiftly. Again, this is meant to amplify their meaning.

Rather as a substitution
Our book breaks down the meaning of preference into two halves: preference (would rather)
and substitution/replacing (rather than). This caused a bit of confusion, but dont worry. Both
expressions mean to prefer something over something else. Since the book is using this
definition, Ill just go with the flow.
When we want to substitute/replace two things, we can use rather succeeded by than. Here are
some examples:
I like English rather than French.
They went to the park rather than the movies.
Our government decided to raise taxes rather than cut spending.
In the first case, instead of liking French, I like English. In the second case, instead of going to
the movies, they went to the park. It is a preference. Pay attention because in this fictional case
(rather used for substitution), than comes right after rather. See how its underlined.

Rather as a preference
In this third (truly second) meaning, when we want to talk about preferences, we use the word
rather preceded by would. The word than actually shows up in the sentence, but much later.
I would rather call it a day than keep doing this.
They would rather go to the park than the movies.

To call it a day means to stop the work for the day. See how both sentences are nothing different
from the substitution case. Also, notice how the word than shows up much later in the sentence.
It doesnt appear right after would rather. So, really, theres no problem in saying these last two
cases talk about preferences, but just for the sake of the book, lets say they are different.
Would rather can be easily replaced by prefer/would prefer. When you prefer something, you
prefer something to/over something else. To is more used.
I would prefer telling her truth over hiding it from her.
I prefer slugs to chocolate.

Habits
You guys have already learned how to talk about past habits by using the expression used to.
Here are some examples:
When I was a kid, I used to play hopscotch.
I remember my mom used to bake a cake every morning.
Those are expressions solely used to talk about past habits, which means theyre not valid
anymore. They were only true in the past. See how the verb after the expression used to comes
in the infinitive. Now, were going to learn how to talk about present habits. We use the
expression be used to.
I am used to playing hopscotch.
My mom is used to baking a cake every morning.
She is used to his behaviour.
Notice the difference? Those habits still hold true today. Remember, the verb to be must agree
with the subject. I am used to [playing hopscotch]. My mom is used to [baking a cake]. Pay
attention, though, because the verb comes in the gerund after the expression. See how its in
italic. Thats the main difference. Also, notice how not only verbs can come after be used to but
also nouns. Check the third example.
Of course, we can talk about past habits and present habits, but how about acquiring habits,
which means, going from not having a habit to having a habit? We can use the expression get
used to.
Ive gotten used to this pain.
She got used to going to Canada every week.
Melissa got used to being complimented.
This expression can also be succeeded by nouns and verbs, but only in the gerund. If you use
verbs in the infinitive, its completely wrong. Same goes for be used to. Also, its interesting to
notice the spelling of compliment. Dont mistake compliment for complement. To compliment
means to say something nice to someone. A complement is an addition. Same pronunciation.

Comparisons
The most basic structures we learn to make comparisons are the comparatives and superlatives.
Paul is stronger than Michael.
John is more intelligent than Zelda.
I am the tallest guy on my moms side of the family.
Those are fairly basic structures to make comparisons, although theyre completely useful. Now
its time to learn hardcore ways to make comparisons.
Ive put all the expressions the books has (plus new ones) and their respective prepositions.
Far worse than

A lot different from

A lot worse than

Very different from

Nowhere nearly/quite as good as

Not quite the same as

Slightly worse/better than

Almost the same as

Fairly better than

Slightly different from

Almost as good as

Totally the same as

Way better than

Pretty much the same as

Extremely worse than

Completely different from

A good way to memorise those prepositions is to notice the pattern.

Different from
Same as
Worse/better than
Try to notice how those new comparisons are basically the old ones with an adverb to qualify
them. Paul can be more interesting than Mike, but he can also but a lot more interesting than
Mike. Melissa can be much better than Monica, but she can also be just fairly better than
Monica. We just add an adverb before the comparison so we know to what extent the two
entities differ from each other.
Here I have some examples:

My room is fairly different from yours.

Passion fruit juice is slightly better than orange juice.
Socialism is nowhere nearly as good as capitalism.
My current girlfriend is not quite the same as my ex.
Spanish is extremely worse than English.
Country music is not quite the same as Pop music.

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are words we use to make connections between sentences. Theyre used to
refer to an idea thats already been expressed. Were going to go over six different relative
pronouns: that, which, where, who, whom and whose.

That
That is the most common relative pronoun we have. With it, were able to refer to anything:
people, things, places etc. Its often used to qualify entities in a particular way.
Michael Jackson is the guy that revolutionised Pop music.
In this case, Im talking about how Michael Jackson impacted Pop music and no one else. Here,
Im ruling out every other person and solely focusing on Michael Jackson.
The students that took Physics classes wont have to study Chemistry.
I believe this one is more evident. We have two different groups: the ones who took Physics
classes and the ones who didnt. Here, Im ruling out every student that didnt study Physics,
and only the ones that took Physics classes will be granted this privilege. We can say that is an
exclusive particle because it excludes every other entity that doesnt meet the requirements.

Which
Which is almost the same as that, with a peculiar difference. While it can also be used to refer to
people, things and places, its used in a descriptive way. Its used to characterise, not exclude.
The students, which took Physics classes, wont have to study Chemistry.
In this case, we only have one group: the students. They all took Physics classes. Therefore, all
of them will be able to skip over Chemistry classes. See how which is used to describe all the
individuals in the group, while that excludes the ones that are not in the group. Its important to
notice that which is often preceded by a comma.
My mom forgot to bake the cake, which isnt a good thing.
Here, which refers to the idea of forgetting to bake the cake, again, characterising the action of
forgetting to bake the cake, saying it is not a good thing.

Where
Where works exactly like the aforementioned which/that, except its used exclusively for places.
Canada is where I want to spend the rest of my life.
America belongs to the past. Singapore is where its at now.
Where, in the first example, is referring to Canada, a place. In the second example, to Singapore.
Where its at is an expression, it means to describe a thing as the most important of its kind.

Who

Who is fairly simple and you guys are already used to using it. Its primary function is to talk
about the subject of the action.
John, the man who broke into my house, is under arrest.
I am the one who will make you happy.
In the first case, who refers to John, he is the subject of the action. In the second case, who talks
about me. I will make you happy. I exert the action. See how we can replace who by that in
those cases, because they function the same way. Lets rewrite the examples weve had.
Michael Jackson is the guy who revolutioned Pop music.
The students who took Physics classes wont have to study Chemistry.

Whom
Whom is quite tricky. Whereas who is used to talk about the subject of the action, whom is used
to talk about the object of the action.
The man whom you saw today was murdered.
Lets rewrite the sentences separately first.
You saw the man today. The man was murdered.
The first example is nothing more than those sentences together, with their connection made by
whom. In the first sentence, the man is the object of the action. You is the subject, the man is the
object. When we write those sentences together, we use whom to refer to the object. Whom is
not common because the sentence stays completely understandable if you take whom out.
The man you saw today was murdered.
Lets take a look at another example and invert the order of the sentence.
Nicole is the woman whom Im going to marry.
Im going to marry Nicole.
Now its more clear that Nicole is the subject of the action. The first case is the inverse of the
second case. See how whom is always followed by the subject who exerts the action.

Whose
The relative pronoun whose gives the idea of possession.
John, whose car got set on fire, will be compensated.
Maria is the neighbour whose son is the CEO of Microsoft.
In the first case, John possessed the car (it got set on fire). In the second case, Maria possesses
the son (its fairly weird to possess a human being, right?).

Passive voice

The passive voice is a very useful tool when we want to focus on the subject that is being
exerted upon. We might also want to focus on the action itself. We are used to saying sentences
in the active voice, now its time to shift the attention a little bit.
To begin with, some sample sentences:
The car is being washed by Michelle. (Present Continuous)
Thomas had been killed by Isaiah. (Past Perfect)
The object of the action always comes before the subject. The subject, when in the sentence,
always shows up after the word by, that indicates the entity acting upon the object. Its also
worth noting that the verb to be is always present, in one way or another. Check the underlined
structures in the sentence.
Unfortunately, theres not a way to know the verb tense in which we must conjugate the verb to
be. That will solely depend on the sentence. Fortunately, though, there are some rules we can
follow.
First and foremost, the general structure of the passive voice is:
Object + To be (any conjugation) + Main verb (past participle) + Subject
Why the object is in the sentence is obvious. The verb to be indicates the behaviour of the action
(if its happening right now, in the past, in the future). After that, the main verb must come in the
past participle form. Last and least, the subject. The subject is not mandatory. Since were
focusing on the object and the action, sometimes it might be interesting to leave the subject out
of the sentence.
Some more examples:

Hopefully Rand Paul will be elected president next year. (Simple Future)
Milli Vanilli was considered a good act before the scandal. (Simple Past)
A new house was being built by my father. (Past Continuous)
The Last Guardian has been revealed by Sony. (Present Perfect)

We have six examples so far. Notice how all examples whose verb tense contains continuous in
its name has the word being. This conjugation of the verb to be indicates that the action has a
duration. So, sentences in any continuous verb tense has the verb to be conjugated twice. Also,
notice how all examples whose verb tense contains perfect in its name has the verb to be
conjugated as been. You can think of that as rule, too. And what happens with verb tenses such
as Present Perfect Continuous? Well, both conjugations are present.
My cake has been being baked for two hours, this is taking forever.
Roosevelt had been being president for twelve years before he died.
Thank God no one speaks like that!