ほうが / 甘く

[eeky]

Hi,


1. 嵐の音は談話室のほうがはっきり聞こえた。

While I think I can understand this sentence OK, the grammar structure puzzles me. What is the subject of 聞こえた?


2. 試合がキャンセルになると考えるほどハリーは甘くはなかった。

In what sense is 甘く used?

 

[Mike Cash]

1. The sound of the storm
2. Naive

 

[eeky]

Thanks, in the Xのほうが... pattern, I usually tend to think of Xのほう as being the verb subject. For example, in 柔道では力より技のほうが大切である I would view 技のほう as being the subject of である. Is the sentence about the storm a different type of structure, or am I always wrong to thing of Xのほうが as being the subject?

 

[Mike Cash]

ほうが / 甘く

I think the difference may be that the sentence is apparently a comparative, with the other bit not being contained in the same sentence. Did they just come into that room from some other place where the storm wasn't as loud?

I look forward to hearing what our esteemed friend Toritoribe-san has to say about it.

 

[Toritoribe]

Yeah, this is an interesting question.
が doesn't always refer to the subject in ～ほうが. For instance, in a sentence この家は駅から近い, the subject is 家, and 駅 is obviously not the subject. However, が is attached to から in the structure for comparison; この家は駅からのほうが海からよりも近い. Similarly, 談話室 is the location, not the subject, in your example sentence (嵐の音が談話室ではっきり聞こえた。). In fact, 嵐の音は談話室のほうではっきり聞こえた can convey the same meaning. (が sounds more natural, though.)
Confusingly, ほうが is not always preferred. に can't be replaced with が in an example sentence 彼女は英語よりも数学のほうに興味を覚えているようだ, i.e., 彼女は英語よりも数学のほうが興味を覚えているようだ is not used. I can only say "it's case by case". (I've read a linguist also says that he can't find any regularity when が can be used and when can't in this comparison structure.)

 

[eeky]

Thank you both. Fortunately, it seems that the meaning of such sentences is usually obvious, even though the choice of particle may not be very predictable.