Rather than

‘Rather than’ is used when giving preference to one thing over another. It is often used in reading and use of English paper, but you can also use it yourself in the writing of speaking paper when giving your opinion about things.

‘Rather than’ can be used as a synonym of “instead of” as their meanings are almost identical. For example you could say “I prefer to go to the cinema rather than the theatre” or “I prefer to go to the cinema instead of the theatre”