I think it's incorrect: 小さいのより大きい方がいいです。 is it?


Somewhere I encountered the following example sentence:

> 小{ちい}さいのより大{おお}きい方{ほう}がいいです。

It's supposed to mean "The big (one) is better than the small (one)." If I
understand correctly, より should directly follow a noun (or a noun-like
construction, ), and 方 shold be attached to a noun using the の particle. So in
my opinion, the above sentence should be more like

> 小{ちい}さいより大{おお}きいの方{ほう}がいいです。

or

> 大{おお}きいの方{ほう}が小{ちい}さいよりいいです。

To make it more confusing, 小さい and 大きい are not nouns, and even as adjectives,
they behave specially (sometimes they are treated like い-adjectives, sometimes
they require な).

So my question is, what is the correct way to say "the big (one) is better
than the small (one)"?

Edit: now that I think about it, 方 and より can be attached to plain-form
expressions without the の, so maybe the correct version should not contain の
at all:

> 大{おお}きい方{ほう}が小{ちい}さいよりいいです。




First, the の seen in the first sentence is a nominalizer, which converts verbs
and adjectives into nouns. See [this
post](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1322/what-is-the-
difference-between-%E3%81%AF-and-%E3%81%AE%E3%81%AF) for how it works, but in
short, it is の that makes it mean "small(er) _one_ " here.

Second, より ("than") doesn't only attach to nouns but to verbs and adjectives
too. It also doesn't change the meaning the former word has.

Third, 方 accepts verbs and adjectives too. It directly attaches to them and
only requires の (a different one from the nominalizer mentioned above) before
it when attached to nouns.

Then you'll know your second and third examples are grammatically wrong, and
your last one,

> 大きい方が小さいよりいいです。 _(To be) big is better than (to be) small._

has a different meaning from what you provided.

Last but not least, 方 has a side effect that it is a nominalizer too! Strictly
speaking, 方 is a noun and already means "the X(-er) side" (X is what precedes
it), so you don't need to add an extra equivalent to "one" in this part. Now,
the original example:

> 小さいのより大きい方がいいです。

is perfectly grammatical for "The bigger one is better than the smaller one."
or more practically, "I'd like the bigger one rather than the smaller."




First, the の seen in the first sentence is a nominalizer, which converts verbs
and adjectives into nouns. See [this
post](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1322/what-is-the-
difference-between-%E3%81%AF-and-%E3%81%AE%E3%81%AF) for how it works, but in
short, it is の that makes it mean "small(er) _one_ " here.

Second, より ("than") doesn't only attach to nouns but to verbs and adjectives
too. It also doesn't change the meaning the former word has.

Third, 方 accepts verbs and adjectives too. It directly attaches to them and
only requires の (a different one from the nominalizer mentioned above) before
it when attached to nouns.

Then you'll know your second and third examples are grammatically wrong, and
your last one,

> 大きい方が小さいよりいいです。 _(To be) big is better than (to be) small._

has a different meaning from what you provided.

Last but not least, 方 has a side effect that it is a nominalizer too! Strictly
speaking, 方 is a noun and already means "the X(-er) side" (X is what precedes
it), so you don't need to add an extra equivalent to "one" in this part. Now,
the original example:

> 小さいのより大きい方がいいです。

is perfectly grammatical for "The bigger one is better than the smaller one."
or more practically, "I'd like the bigger one rather than the smaller."

