学年別における meaning


> **学年別におけるクラスの勝敗。**

**別** : distinction; difference; different; another; particular; separate;
extra; exception.

The school will hold an exam (a competition between classes), where the 2nd
grade student will pair up with the 1st grade student, and the homeroom
teacher was explaining the rule and the outcome (some kind of rewards and
punishments for the winning class and the losing class). The above-mentioned
sentence is the opening explanation.

What does it mean the **学年別における** on that sentence? For a different academic
year (sounds odd)?




In general, [noun]+別 means "[noun]-categorized", which as a whole a noun-like
thing that has adjective meaning. It is mostly used in combination with
certain verbs to mean "(sorted/classified/divided...) by [noun]".

With the current available context, 学年別におけるクラスの勝敗 is open to two
interpretations.

  1. Simply "class win/lose in each grade" or "on the grade basis"

における just stands for "in". However, wording like ～別における is far from the
primary or natural choice. You usually just need to say ～別の or ～別での for such
meaning. The writer may want to avoid stacked の for a stylistic reason or
possibility of wrong parsing to be "win/lose of a 'grade-based class'".
Actually, Googling
["別における"](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%88%A5%E3%81%AB%E3%81%8A%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B%22)
returns a great number of results, most of which involves another の in the
same phrase.

  2. "class win/lose in the per-grade [something]"

における is a case particle attaches to a noun, and 学年別 is an abbreviation of
学年別○○, perhaps like 試験. This kind of half-words are commonly seen where it
seems obvious, for example 全国に行く "go to the national [大会 competition]" and
不燃を出す "take out incombustible [ゴミ garbage]" (or even like
[this](https://twitter.com/WCGuardian/status/76873627005493248)).




In general, [noun]+別 means "[noun]-categorized", which as a whole a noun-like
thing that has adjective meaning. It is mostly used in combination with
certain verbs to mean "(sorted/classified/divided...) by [noun]".

With the current available context, 学年別におけるクラスの勝敗 is open to two
interpretations.

  1. Simply "class win/lose in each grade" or "on the grade basis"

における just stands for "in". However, wording like ～別における is far from the
primary or natural choice. You usually just need to say ～別の or ～別での for such
meaning. The writer may want to avoid stacked の for a stylistic reason or
possibility of wrong parsing to be "win/lose of a 'grade-based class'".
Actually, Googling
["別における"](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%88%A5%E3%81%AB%E3%81%8A%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B%22)
returns a great number of results, most of which involves another の in the
same phrase.

  2. "class win/lose in the per-grade [something]"

における is a case particle attaches to a noun, and 学年別 is an abbreviation of
学年別○○, perhaps like 試験. This kind of half-words are commonly seen where it
seems obvious, for example 全国に行く "go to the national [大会 competition]" and
不燃を出す "take out incombustible [ゴミ garbage]" (or even like
[this](https://twitter.com/WCGuardian/status/76873627005493248)).

