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Grammarly says no, but I don't trust Grammarly. I was trying to use it in a paragraph for Fahrenheit 451, saying

Nothing makes you think for yourself, instead coaxing you into forgetting about the real issue.

Wouldn't this work when you consider the definition of 'stead', since I'm trying to say that 'nothing' is making you forget instead of making you think? I suppose it's just backwards, but it seems correct.

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  • Welcome! Could you quote, or at least link to, the Grammarly advice you mention?
    – Andy Bonner
    Nov 19, 2021 at 17:12
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    With a more tractable example: 'The bus didn't take the correct turn for the town centre, taking us to the harbour instead' = 'The bus didn't take the correct turn for the town centre, instead taking us to the harbour.'
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Nov 19, 2021 at 17:18
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    Hmmm. Instead of and instead are used with completely opposite meanings. Instead of takes as its complement the thing that that was replaced or the event that did not happen: "Instead of going to the cinema, I did my homework". In stark contrast instead used on its own is used to mark the alternative replacement or the thing that did happen: "I didn't go to the cinema but did my homework instead" or "I didn't do to the cinema. Instead, I did my homework".
    – Araucaria - Him
    Nov 21, 2021 at 15:29
  • @Araucaria-Nothereanymore. 1a Instead of going to the cinema, I did my homework. 1b I did my homework instead of going to the cinema. 1c I did my homework instead. 2a Before going to the cinema, I did my homework. 2b I did my homework before going to the cinema. 2c I did my homework before. I see no stark contrast.
    – Rosie F
    Nov 22, 2021 at 15:53

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There's no reason "instead" always has to be accompanied by "of," but you'd have to construct the sentence differently; when you remove "of," the "instead" points to something different. Let's take a simpler sentence:

I ran away instead of talking to you.

You did run away, and didn't talk. The complement to "instead of" is "talking." But you could also say:

I didn't talk to you, instead running away.

Now "instead" modifies "running"; "instead" has been pulled into the service of the positive statement rather than the negative one. This sentence works only because I negated "talk."

Your example sentence is hampered by the fact that the subject is "nothing." It isn't a negation; the concept of "nothing" does in fact do something ("makes you think"). So we run into a problem when we look for a subject for the second half of the sentence: "Nothing" "coaxes you into forgetting"? Oh dear.

The sentence would work if you recast it with a positive subject but with "think" negated:

[Bradbury's dystopian government] never makes you think for yourself, instead coaxing you into...

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  • Hmmm. Instead of and instead are used with completely opposite meanings. Instead of takes as its complement the thing that that was replaced or the event that did not happen: "Instead of going to the cinema, I did my homework". In stark contrast instead used on its own is used to mark the alternative replacement or the thing that did happen: "I didn't go to the cinema but did my homework instead" or "I didn't do to the cinema. Instead, I did my homework".
    – Araucaria - Him
    Nov 21, 2021 at 15:28
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    PS, I deleted a comment I wrote earlier, because I was under the mistaken impression that the original sentence was written by Bradbury, and not about him! :-)
    – Araucaria - Him
    Nov 21, 2021 at 15:39
  • @Araucaria-Nothereanymore. Good point, I should edit to highlight that the construction without "of" switches the complement.
    – Andy Bonner
    Nov 21, 2021 at 16:27
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    Good edit, but one niggle. Instead on its own doesn't have a complement, but is a modifier of the clause it precedes or appears in. (It's the fact that that clause looks like a complement when it follows instead that causes the problem - and that's what happens in the OP's sentence!)
    – Araucaria - Him
    Nov 23, 2021 at 0:00

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