Monday, 22 June 2015

conjunctions - What are the differences between ように and よう when used to link sentences?



列車に間に合うように早く家を出た (A)



Translates as "I left home early in order to catch the train".


Would:




列車に間に合うよう、早く家を出た (B)



Translate differently? Is there any nuance here ("as if to catch the train", "appearing that I left early to catch the train" etc.)? The (B) structure is quite common in Japanese literature and I'd like to come closer to understanding it.



Answer



The only difference is the degree of formality, not in the meaning or nuance.


「よう」 sounds slightly more formal than 「ように」, but the two should be interchangeable much of the time.


One might tend to use 「ように」 more often in informal conversations, but then again, it could be replaced by 「よう」 with no problems most of the time.


I think I myself used 「よう」 less often as a kid than I do now.


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