Friday, November 16, 2018

grammar - Use of より in this sentence



調理用のアルミボウルを用いて、より半球に近づけるためにゴム製ハンマーでひたすらたたき続けた。



Using aluminum foil, (より?) to make it hemispherical, a rubber hammer was repeatedly tapped.


If not for comparison, what is the purpose of より?



Answer




It's an aluminium bowl (アルミボウル) rather than aluminium foil (アルミホイル).


Having said that, the usual pattern for より is "AよりB[のほう]" - "B more than A", "B rather than A". But より can simply stand as an adverb before an い-adjective or a verb to make a comparative, as in より大きい, "bigger". That's what's going on here: より is modifying 近づける, "cause to approach". より近づける means "cause to approach more", "bring nearer". 半球 is the indirect object. So this part of the sentence means "Used a rubber hammer to bring it nearer to a hemisphere", "went on beating it with a rubber hammer to make it more hemispherical in form".


No comments:

Post a Comment

periodic trends - Comparing radii in lithium, beryllium, magnesium, aluminium and sodium ions

Apparently the of last four, $\ce{Mg^2+}$ is closest in radius to $\ce{Li+}$. Is this true, and if so, why would a whole larger shell ($\ce{...