am I wrong or the sentence are

hi
I got two confusing sentences.

1.Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.
2. They lived here for 20 years.

For first sentence, I can't understand the word "rather" very well; for the secong sentence, I think the right sentence should be " They have live here for 20 years".

How do you think? I am looking forward for your response.

Think you so much.

lucy

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[Tdol]

1.Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.
'rather' means that friends are preferable to a fence as a means of protection.
2. They lived here for 20 years.
This sentence is correct if they no longer live there or have died. 'they have lived' means that they still live here.