1.prefer+名词
——Would you like meat or fish?
——I'd prefer meat,please.
2.prefer+动名词
Do you prefer cooling for yourself or eating in a restaurant?自己做饭还是喜欢下馆子?
—Do you like swimming?你喜欢游泳吗?
—Yes,but I prefer sailing.喜欢,但我更喜欢驾驶帆船.
3.prefer+不定式
Do you prefer to cook for yourself,or to eat in a restaurant?
I prefer to spend the weekend at home.我喜欢在家里度周末.
I would prefer to stay at home tonight.
She prefers to be alone.
4.Prefer sb.to do sth.
Their father prefers them to be home early.他们的父亲宁愿他们早点回家.
I thought you would prefer me not to knock.
5.prefer A to B
在本句型中,A与B是平行结构,可以是名词,也可以都是动名词.例如：
I prefer dogs to cats.在狗与猫之间我更喜欢狗.
Most people prefer trains to buses.
大多数人愿意坐火车而不愿坐汽车.
I prefer writing a term paper to taking an examination.
我宁愿写一篇学期论文也不愿参加考试.
I prefer staying at home to going out.
我觉得在家里比出去好.
Thousands of children nowadays prefer doing their homework to a background of pop-music to doing it in a quiet room.成千上万的孩子如今一边听流行音乐一边做作业,也不愿在安安静静的房间里做.
She has always preferred marking her own clothes rather than buying them in the shops.她向来喜欢自己做衣服,而不到商店里去买衣服.
6.Prefer+不定式+rather than+不定式
1)本句型中,第一个不定式前面要加to,第二个不定式前面以不加to居多.例如：He prefer to die rather than become traitor.他宁死也不做叛徒.
Older people often fear change.They know what they can do best.They prefer to repeat their successes rather than risk failure.年纪大的人常常怕变化.他们知道什么最拿手,宁愿把自己成功的经验再如法炮制也不愿冒失败的危险.
She preferred to sew rather than to knit.她喜欢缝纫而不喜欢编织.
2)rather than也可以置于句首：
Rather than buy a car of his own,he prefers to rent one.
3)than后也可用动名词：
I prefer to stay at home rather than go/going to see a film.我觉得与其去看电影倒不如待在家里.
I would prefer to spend the weekend at home rather than drive/driving all the way to your mother's.我觉得与其开车跑那么远的路到你母亲那里度周末,倒不如在家里过更好些.
4)prefer…rather than中的rather也可以移到第一个不定式之前(prefer rather…than),这种用法多见于书面语.例如：He preferred rather to take the whole blame himself than to allow it to fall on the innocent.他宁可自己承担全部责任而不愿让无辜的人受到连累.
5)prefer to do A rather than do B意义相同,试比较：Joe prefers skating to skiing.
Joe prefer to skate rather than ski.
Bill preferred playing soccer to swimming.
Bill preferred to play soccer rather than swim.
He preferred rating a car to having one of his own.
He prefers to rent a car rather than to have one of his own.他宁愿租车也不愿买车.
6)用prefer…rather than代替prefer…to连接名词的形式偶尔也可见到.如：Mr.Brunner prefers chemistry rather than physics.
有人认为两者的区别是：prefer…to表示一般的倾向,prefer…rather than则表示在某种具体场合的选择.如：What shall we have to drink,port or sherry?我们喝什么呢,葡萄酒还是雪利酒?
I should prefer port rather than sherry.我宁愿喝葡萄酒而不喝雪利酒.
7)prefer+that从句
Would you prefer that I come on Monday instead of on Tuesday?你宁愿让我星期一来而不是星期二来吗?
I prefer that someone else should do this.我觉得还是让别人来做这件事比较好.