QUESTION:
Fill in the blank.
Amy prefers drinking chocolate chip frappe ——– hot coffee.
A) to
B) like
C) than
D) then
The correct ANSWER is ⇒ A) to
Expressing Preferences
PREFER
The phrase “prefer” can be used in three different ways to express what you prefer in life in general:
1) Prefer something + to + something else
– I prefer football to basketball.
2) Prefer + to do something + rather than + do something else
– I prefer to go out rather than stay at home.
3) Prefer + doing something + to + doing something elseÂ
– I prefer cooking to washing the dishes.
There is no difference in meaning between the three usages shown above.
WOULD PREFERÂ
The phrase “would prefer” is used to express what we prefer in a particular situation, not our general preferences.
Examples;
– Would you prefer coffee or tea?Â
– I’d prefer to go to the concert rather than watch the movie tonight.Â
WOULD RATHERÂ
There is no difference in meaning between the phrases “would rather” and “would prefer”. There is only the following difference structurally in usage.
– would rather do
– would prefer to do
The verb “would rather” comes directly after the verb and does not take a suffix.