The phrase "instead of saying something" is grammatically correct and can be used in written English.
It is typically used to indicate that someone did not say something, but instead did something else. Example: Instead of saying something hurtful, she chose to walk away from the argument.
"Instead of saying something with style and grace, I said something really stupid," he said.
Instead of saying something new, now they just try to boost turnout within their own demographic niches and suppress turnout in the other guy's niches.
Lin said that instead of saying something hateful back to the user, which would have caused his followers to swarm the online troll, he instead tweeted back to the person that it was not ok to use racist terms.
(Oh, why did I look down at the ground instead of saying something! Another missed opportunity! Oh floor, what secrets did you hold that kept my gaze!) Was this you?..
Instead of saying something cool — and accurate — like " 'scuse me while I kiss the sky," people were known to mush it into " 'scuse me while I kiss this guy".
"Instead of saying something has to be so strong it can withstand any hurricane or earthquake, a structure can be made to be easily evacuated, and its bones can be made to withstand anything, but certain elements can be made intentionally fragile, to be blown off, broken, recovered, repurposed".
So instead of just saying something generic — like it's 'blocking 25 trackers', as a typical anti-tracker tool might — users of DDG's tool will be told which tracker networks are being blocked and "what their purpose is".
Sadly, in some cases, someone may not offer any sort of criticism but instead insults by saying something like, "This is a terribly written article".. Take someone's emotions into account.
Such an analysis, which has come to be called "the fitting attitude analysis" of value, is supported by the mundane observation that, instead of saying that something is good, we often say that it is valuable, which itself just means that it is fitting to value the thing in question.
Instead of gossiping or saying something negative about a person you don't know that well, imagine that he or she is a nice person, just like you.
Though you may be feeling bitterness, anger, hurt, or confusion, you should find a way to delicately state these things instead of exploding or saying something you don't really mean just to cause a scene.
