Adding 方（ほう）after a phrase


I've been reading Yotsuba and in this part, when talking about these two
sisters, Yotsuba asks: “追いかけてくる方か？強い方か？きれいじゃない方か？”. I'm assuming this is a way
to say "The (qualifier) one", but I'm not finding anything directly explaining
this on the internet lol




ほう's literal meaning is "direction", and it is used to turn things into
options to choose from. For example, you can say to a child who doesn't want
to get the vaccine shot:

病気にかかって苦しむ方がいいの？それとも今ちょっとちくっとするだけで、病気にかからないようにする方がいいの？

When used to refer to a person, it gets confusing because 方(かた) is also used
to refer to a person (without making them into options). For example, you can
say あの方は誰 and that usage doesn't imply they are an option. To my knowledge,
方(かた) as a way to refer to a person has also evolved from the original meaning
of "direction".

You cannot use ほう in the same way as かた, i.e. a generic way to refer to a
person. It can only be used when you are turning people into options.

Importantly, if you say 方(かた) to refer to a person, it's polite. Whereas if
you say ほう then it's almost disrespectful (if you are e.g. 先輩 in a sports club
situation then it might be acceptable). This is also why I can confidently say
in this instance it must read ほう because the context is not a polite context.

If it's 外国の方ですか、それとも日本の方ですか then I would read it as かた as the polite context
implies it's used as かた

