请曹老师解答两个问题!
Rather than, say, Quebec, negotiating on behalf of 7 million people ,the national agency would negotiate on behalf of 31 million people.
问题1:请问曹老师，rather than这个结构如何剖析? negotiating是它的宾语吗? 若是，那样say和Quebec该怎么样剖析呢？
问题2: 根据现代语法剖析，than或as引导的比较分句可以作比较状语嘛？假如可以，请曹老师举两个例句.
1 rather than在此为复合介词，后接Quebec作介词宾语，negotiating on behalf of 7 million people为目前分词短语作定语修饰Quebec。say是插入语，意为譬如，比如。整个介词短语作状语，可以归类为广义的比较状语，意思是不同于，与...不同。
2 既然你问的是现代语法剖析，而现代语法觉得状语是分句层次的成分，不是词组层次的成分，所以than是不可以引导状语从句的。than从句一直呼应句子中的比较级、other、rather、different等词，作其补足语，而不是状语。as则不同，as除去呼应句子中的as，so，such 或 the same 外，还可以单独引导比较结构，在分句层次作成分，此时就能是比较状语从句。比如剑桥英语语法就把下面句子中的as分句剖析为比较状语（adjunct of comparison）：
As you know, we face a difficult year.
He phoned home every day, as he’d promised to do.
He was a devout Catholic, as were both his brothers.
