1. 而非；胜于；而不是
You use rather than when you are contrasting two things or situations. Rather than introduces the thing or situation that is not true or that you do not want.
2. 而是；更确切地说；还不如说；相反
You use rather when you are correcting something that you have just said, especially when you are describing a particular situation after saying what it is not.
3. 宁愿/不愿；宁可/宁可不
If you say that you would rather do something or you'd rather do it, you mean that you would prefer to do it. If you say that you would rather not do something, you mean that you do not want to do it.
4. 有些;颇为;相当
You use rather to indicate that something is true to a fairly great extent, especially when you are talking about something unpleasant or undesirable.
5. （放在动词前）更…，宁愿…
You use rather before verbs that introduce your thoughts and feelings, in order to express your opinion politely, especially when a different opinion has been expressed.
6. （表示同意或接受）当然，的确
People sometimes say rather to express agreement or acceptance.
Rather,
pretty,
quite, and
fairly can all be used to modify adjectives and adverbs, but are all less strong than
very.
Rather and
pretty are the strongest of these words and are the closest to
very.
Pretty, in this sense, is informal. Therefore, if you said to someone, '
Your work is pretty good' or '
Your work is rather good', they would be more likely to be pleased than if you said 'Your work is quite good' or 'Your work is fairly good'. However,
rather is commonly used with words indicating negative qualities.
I was feeling rather sad. It is the only one of these words than can be used with comparatives, and with
too.
Global warming could be rather worse than we think it will be... He was becoming rather too friendly with my ex-boyfriend. Quite is slightly stronger than
fairly, and may suggest that something has more of a quality than expected.
Nobody here's ever heard of it but it is actually quite common.rather, pretty, quite 和 fairly 都可以用于修饰形容词和副词，但是它们都没有very的程度强。
rather 和 pretty 在这4个词中程度最强，意思和very最接近。表达这个意思时pretty是非正式说法。因此，如果对某人说Your work is pretty good（你干得非常好）或Your work is
rather good（你干得相当好）要比说Your work is quite good（你干得很不错）或Your work is fairly good（你干得还不错）更令他高兴。但是，
rather 往往和有消极意义的词连用，如：I was feeling
rather sad（我觉得很难过）。在这些词中唯有
rather可以和比较级或too连用。如：Global warming could be
rather worse than we think it will be（全球变暖可能比我们想象的更加严重），He was becoming
rather too friendly with my ex-boyfriend（他和我的前男友好得有些过了头）。quite比fairly的程度稍强一些，表示某物有些超乎人们的期望。如：Nobody here's ever heard of it but it is actually quite common（这里没有人听说过它，但是它实际上颇为常见）。
