Page 365 - Basic Japanese

present in expressions like migi no hō ni ‘on the right (as

opposed to the left),’ higashi no hō ni ‘in the east (as opposed
to other sections of the country, or as opposed to other

directions).’ Watashi no hō may mean either ‘me (as opposed

to somebody else)’ or ‘my direction, my section.’ The noun
hō can be preceded by any noun + the particle no. In
addition, it may be preceded, just as any other noun, by a

modifying expression: a verb, adjective, or copula clause,
with the inflected word in a plain form (perfect or

imperfect). Ōkii hō means ‘the big one, as opposed to the
little one; the big alternative; the choice of the big one.’

Ginkō de hataraku hō means ‘the choice of working at a bank;

working at a bank as opposed to working other places, or to
taking a vacation, or doing something.’ For a special use of
hō, in addition to those described in this lesson, see Note

8.13.

7.16. Comparisons

The adjective ii just means ‘something is good’; the

adjective takai means ‘something is expensive.’ To say
‘something is BETTER, something is MORE expensive’ you

also use ii and takai, but you often add something
somewhere in the sentence to bring out the fact that you

are making a comparison. Either you’re comparing one
thing with another with respect to some quality—‘this is

better (than that), that is more expensive (than this)’—or
you are comparing two qualities with respect to one thing:

‘this is better (than it used to be), that is more expensive
(than it is useful).’
If you only mention the one thing, or the one quality, and

leave the other item of comparison implied, you usually add