notes

  • 「本田さんより田中さんの方が高いだ。」 means “Tanaka is taller than Honda.”

    より

  • 「より」 is a non-logical particle that means “from”
  • 「から」 (the other “from”) marks the A in “from A to B”
    • treats A as the point of origin
    • “derived from”
  • 「より」 concentrates more on the distance between A and B
    • treats A as the point of departure
    • “distinguished from”
  • ex: 「今年の冬はいつもより寒い。」 means “Compared to always, this year’s winter is colder.”

    ほう

  • 「ほう」 is a noun meaning “direction” or (metaphorical) “side”
  • one side always implies another side

    一方

  • 「一方」 means “one side” and is used to refer back to what one was talking about earlier
  • 「一方」 can also be used as a contrastive conjunction
    • ex: 「この辺りは静かな一方で不便だ。」 means “It’s quiet around here, but it’s inconvenient.” (“One side it that it’s quiet, the other side is that it’s inconvenient.”)
  • 「一方」 can also be used with verbs to say that an action is continuing in one direction
    • ex: 「この村の人口が減る一方。」 means “This village’s population continues to decrease.”

      resources

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