The American Heritage® Book of English Usage.
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.1. Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case § 54. rather
would rather / should rather. Which would you rather do—play professional baseball or sell used cars? In expressions of preference rather is commonly preceded by would: We would rather go to the lake than stay in town for the weekend. In formal style, you sometimes see should instead of would: I should rather my daughter attended a private school.
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had rather. Sometimes had appears in these constructions, though this use of had seems to be growing less frequent: I had rather work with Williams than work for him. Language critics once condemned this use of had as a mistake. In truth the mistake was their own. They misunderstood sentences such as I’d rather stay, thinking the contraction was of would. But the contraction is a survival of the subjunctive form had that also appears in constructions like had better and had best, as in We had better leave now. This use of had goes back to Middle English and is perfectly acceptable.
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rather a. Before an unmodified noun only rather a is used: It was rather a disaster. When the noun is preceded by an adjective, however, both rather a and a rather are found: It was rather a boring party. It was a rather boring party. When a rather is used in this construction, rather qualifies only the adjective, whereas with rather a it qualifies either the adjective or the entire noun phrase. Thus a rather long ordeal can mean only “an ordeal that is rather long,” whereas rather a long ordeal can also mean roughly “a long process that is something of an ordeal.” Rather a is the only possible choice when the adjective itself does not permit modification. Thus we say The horse was rather a long shot but not The horse was a rather long shot.
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