与其……，宁可 / 宁愿……: rather than…, I would rather…
【高105】复句 / complex sentences (选择)
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
与其 A，宁可 / 宁愿 B: you turn A down and choose B of your own accord, even if B is far from ideal. It is the resolute cousin of 与其……不如…… (HSK 5): 不如 only judges that B is better than A (a piece of advice, an opinion), whereas 宁可 / 宁愿 voices a will: "rather than A, I'll take B, whatever it costs".
宁可 and 宁愿 are nearly interchangeable; 宁愿 stresses a little more that you are willing to accept B. The subject usually stands before 宁可 / 宁愿 (与其在家躺着，我宁愿出去走走), but it may also open the sentence. Do not mix it up with 宁可……也不…… (HSK 5), which starts from the sacrifice you accept (宁可饿着，也不吃这个): here the rejected option comes first.
Register: current, in speech and in writing. The pattern suits a debate well, since it lets you reject the other side's position before announcing your own.
Examples
与其在这里干等，我宁可先回去。
Yǔqí zài zhèlǐ gān děng, wǒ nìngkě xiān huíqù.Rather than wait around here, I'd sooner go back first.
与其在家里躺一天，我宁愿出去走走。
Yǔqí zài jiāli tǎng yì tiān, wǒ nìngyuàn chūqù zǒuzou.Rather than lie around at home all day, I'd prefer to go out for a walk.
与其在这里洗半天的衣服，我宁可去买新的。
Yǔqí zài zhèlǐ xǐ bàntiān de yīfu, wǒ nìngkě qù mǎi xīn de.Rather than spend half a day washing clothes here, I'd sooner go and buy new ones.
与其跟他一组，我宁愿一个人做这个项目。
Yǔqí gēn tā yì zǔ, wǒ nìngyuàn yí ge rén zuò zhège xiàngmù.Rather than be in his group, I'd rather do this project on my own.
与其把话说得模模糊糊，他宁可直接承认自己不知道。
Yǔqí bǎ huà shuō de mómohūhū, tā nìngkě zhíjiē chéngrèn zìjǐ bù zhīdào.Rather than stay vague, he would sooner admit outright that he doesn't know.
与其每天加班到深夜，有些年轻人宁愿少拿一点工资，多留一点时间给自己。
Yǔqí měi tiān jiābān dào shēnyè, yǒuxiē niánqīngrén nìngyuàn shǎo ná yìdiǎn gōngzī, duō liú yìdiǎn shíjiān gěi zìjǐ.Rather than work late into the night every day, some young people would sooner take a little less pay and keep some time for themselves.
Common mistakes
✗ 我宁可去买新的，与其洗衣服。 → ✓ 与其洗衣服，我宁可去买新的。 (与其 introduces the option you reject and comes first).
✗ 与其在家，不如宁愿出去。 → ✓ 与其在家，不如出去。 / 与其在家，宁愿出去。 (choose one: 不如 says B is better, 宁愿 says you are ready to accept B; they are not stacked).