The road to JLPT #2 - 本日の文法

Hello everyone, and welcome to our daily JLPT thread! As the tests get nearer and nearer, I'm thinking on focusing on N4-N3 grammar for a few days, since I think those are probably the most popular tests, and the bulk of potential readers will fall under that level most likely. That said, let us begin!

本日の文法：JLPTN3の「～のように・のような」

～のように・のような Is a very common structure that could translate to “just like” or simply “like”, implying resemblance or any commonalities between two things. It's especially common when you want to use someone's attributes or features to link them to someone else.

A few example sentences for this could be

弟は、父のような優しい人ではない。 “My brother is not a gentle person like my dad is”

彼女は、状況をよく理解できる方のように説明しました。 "She explained it like someone who understands the situation very well."

It's not a particularly formal or colloquial form (although it might be more unusual in highly formal speech), but it does change depending on how it's being used.

Notice that the first sentence is linking two nouns 「父」 and 「優しい人」, and thus のような is used. The structure would become NOUNのようなNOUN.

For example: 「師匠のような先生」"A teacher that's more like a mentor" or 「太陽のような光」"A light like the sun".

However, you can also change the structure to のように to make more specific comparisons. We can modify our previous examples to make them evaluate a specific feature or quality about someone or something.

For example: 「師匠のように話する先生」 "A teacher that speaks like a mentor."

「太陽のように明るい光」 "A light as bright as the sun."

Hope everybody has a very nice day!