Rather vs So - What's the difference?
rather | so |
(obsolete) More quickly; sooner, earlier.
Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably. (Now usually followed by than )
*
(conjunctive) Used to introduce a contradiction; on the contrary.
(conjunctive) Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or .)
* 1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew) :
* 1898, J. A. Hamilton, ", Volume LIV: Stanhope–Stovin , The MacMillan Company,
* , chapter=12
, title= (degree) Somewhat, fairly.
(nonstandard, or, dialectal) To prefer; to prefer to.
* 1984 , Bruce Brooks, The Moves Make the Man :
* 2002 , Sarah Waters, Fingersmith :
* 2002 , Elizabeth Bowen, The Heat of the Day :
* 2007 , Mikel Schaefer, Lost in Katrina , page 323:
(obsolete) Prior; earlier; former.
* Sir J. Mandeville
In order that.
With the result that; for that reason; therefore.
* , chapter=1
, title= (label) Provided that; on condition that, as long as.
* , II.18:
* (John Milton)
To the (explicitly stated) extent that.
* , chapter=1
, title= * 1963 , Mike Hawker, (Ivor Raymonde) (music and lyrics), (Dusty Springfield) (vocalist), (I Only Want to Be with You) (single),
(lb) To the (implied) extent.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= # (lb) Very (positive clause).
#*
# (lb) Very (negative clause).
# Very much.
#*
In a particular manner.
In the same manner or to the same extent as aforementioned; also.
* 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)
*:"Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn." ¶ "Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so ? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 19, author=Paul Fletcher, work=BBC Sport
, title= (with as) To such an extent or degree; as.
True, accurate.
*
*:“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so ,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
In that state or manner; with that attribute. ((replaces the aforementioned adjective phrase))
* 1823 , , Martha
* 1872 , (Charles Dickens), J., The Personal History of (David Copperfield)
*
Homosexual.
* , chapter=11
, title=
Be as you are; stand still; used especially to cows; also used by sailors.
someone
As adverbs the difference between rather and so
is that rather is more quickly; sooner, earlier while so is to the (explicitly stated) extent that.As adjectives the difference between rather and so
is that rather is prior; earlier; former while so is true, accurate.As a verb rather
is to prefer; to prefer to.As a conjunction so is
in order that.As an interjection so is
Used after a pause for thought to introduce a new topic, question or story.As a noun so is
a syllable used in solfège to represent the fifth note of a major scale.As an abbreviation so is
someone.As an initialism SO is
significant other.As a proper noun So is
a Mon-Khmer-speaking people of Laos and Thailand.rather
English
Adverb
(-)- Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
- What the pupil already knew was indeed rather taken for granted than expressed, but it performed the useful function of transcending all textbooks and supplanting all studies.
page 60,
- His ‘Iliad’ is spirited and polished, and, though often rather a paraphrase than a translation, is always more truly poetic than most of the best translations.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.
Usage notes
* (somewhat) This is a non-descriptive qualifier'', similar to quite and fairly and somewhat. It is used where a plain adjective needs to be modified, but cannot be qualified. When spoken, the meaning can vary with the tone of voice and stress. "''He was rather big''" can mean anything from "not small" to "huge" (meiosis with the stress on ''rather ).Synonyms
* liever, liefer, as lief * (to a certain extent) somewhat, fairly, quiteAntonyms
* (somewhat) utterlyVerb
(en verb)- Until just before the pie was popped into the heat. A few of them suddenly realized who put that gorgeous hunk of crackers together, and gaped. We grinned back, but very cool. The ones who knew said nothing, rathering to die than let on they had been hustled by two negative dudes.
- It was a plain brown dress, more or less the colour of my hair; and the walls of our kitchen being also brown, when I came downstairs again I could hardly be seen. I should have rathered a blue gown, or a violet one
- So you must excuse my saying anything I did: all it was, that up to the very last I had understood us all to be friendly — apart, that is, from his rathering me not there. How was I to know he would flash out so wicked?
- "That was a killer," said Chris. "I'd rathered' die in St. Bernard than spent one minute over there. I would have ' rathered the storm, shaking with the wind and rain hitting in the boat for an eternity than spending any time there.
Adjective
(-)- Now no man dwelleth at the rather town.
so
English
(wikipedia so)Conjunction
(English Conjunctions)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’
- As we cal money not onely that which is true and good, but also the false; so it be currant.
- Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength.
Usage notes
Chiefly in North American use, a comma or pause is often used before the conjunction when used in the sense with the result that''. (A similar meaning can often be achieved by using a semicolon or colon (without the ''so'' ), as for example: ''He drank the poison; he died. )Synonyms
* (in order that) so that, thatAdverb
(-)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’
- Don?t know what it is that makes me love you so , / I only know I never want to let you go.
- [= this long]
Old soldiers?, passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}
- Captain Edward Carlisle; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so' superb a woman as this under handicap ' so hard.
- Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust.
Blackpool 1-2 West Ham, passage=It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.}}
Usage notes
Use of so''''' in the sense ''to the '''implied''' extent'' is discouraged in formal writing; spoken intonation which might render the usage clearer is not usually apparent to the reader, who might reasonably expect the ''extent'' to be made explicit. For example, the reader may expect ''He is '''so good'' to be followed by an explanation or consequence of how good ''he'' is. Devices such as use of underscoring and the exclamation mark may be used as a means of clarifying that the implicit usage is intended; capitalising ''SO'' is also used. The derivative subsenses ''very'' and ''very much are similarly more apparent with spoken exaggerated intonation. The difference between so'' and ''very'' in implied-extent usage is that ''very'' is more descriptive or matter-of-fact, while ''so'' indicates more emotional involvement. This ''so'' is used by both men and women, but more frequently by women. For example, ''she is very pretty'' is a simple statement of fact; ''she is so pretty'' suggests admiration. Likewise, ''that is very typical'' is a simple statement; ''that is SO typical of him!'' is an indictment. A formal (and reserved) apology may be expressed ''I am very sorry'', but after elbowing someone in the nose during a basketball game, a man might say, ''Dude, I am so sorry! in order to ensure that it's understood as an accident.Mark Liberman,"Ask Language Log: So feminine?", 2012 March 26
References
Synonyms
* (very) really, truly, that, very * (to a particular extent) that, this, yea * (in a particular manner) like this, thus * really, truly, very muchDerived terms
* or so * so-so * so there * so whatAdjective
(en adjective)- If this separation was painful to all parties, it was most so to Martha.
- But if I had been more fit to be married, I might have made you more so too.
- At twilight in the summeron the floor.
Synonyms
* (true) correct, right, true * musical, one of the family, one of them, that way inclinedDerived terms
* make it so * more soInterjection
(en interjection)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=So , after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all.}}