"Rather than"-construction


I found these two sentences which seem to me to be quite similar in the
translation but are constructed in a different way:

>   1. 魚を食べる **ぐらいなら** 飢えたほうがましだ  
>  'I rather starve than eat fish.'
>
>   2. 恥 **よりも** 死ぬほうがましだ。  
>  'To die is better than to be in shame.'
>
>

Can anybody explain about the difference? Sorry, my English isn't that good;
maybe the translation of the sentences is bit poor.




まし is usually used to mean "preferable" in the "less bad" sense, i.e. you're
choosing the lesser of two evils. ぐらいなら reinforces this point, i.e.

> 魚を食べるぐらいなら飢えたほうがましだ If I had to go as far as eating fish, starving would be
> less bad.

ぐらい can come after nouns as well, but with this specific nuance, it is not
often used after nouns. So we could say

> 恥をかくぐらいなら死んだほうがましだ Dying is preferable to facing disgrace

However, if we're using the noun 恥, it would be more natural to rephrase to
よりも (or よりは)

> 恥よりも死のほうがましだ Death is preferable to disgrace

By the way, your example sentence is comparing a noun to a verb, 恥 and 死ぬ.
While maybe not exactly wrong, I feel rewriting 死ぬ to the noun 死 sounds
better.

Beware that ぐらい can also be used in the opposite sense, to reinforce that
something is easy or small (like "only"). In this sense, it's used after nouns
as well

> ちょっと待つぐらいならいい I don't mind waiting (if it's only) for a bit  
>  ケーキ五個ぐらいなら食べられる If it's only 5 cakes, I can eat them




まし is usually used to mean "preferable" in the "less bad" sense, i.e. you're
choosing the lesser of two evils. ぐらいなら reinforces this point, i.e.

> 魚を食べるぐらいなら飢えたほうがましだ If I had to go as far as eating fish, starving would be
> less bad.

ぐらい can come after nouns as well, but with this specific nuance, it is not
often used after nouns. So we could say

> 恥をかくぐらいなら死んだほうがましだ Dying is preferable to facing disgrace

However, if we're using the noun 恥, it would be more natural to rephrase to
よりも (or よりは)

> 恥よりも死のほうがましだ Death is preferable to disgrace

By the way, your example sentence is comparing a noun to a verb, 恥 and 死ぬ.
While maybe not exactly wrong, I feel rewriting 死ぬ to the noun 死 sounds
better.

Beware that ぐらい can also be used in the opposite sense, to reinforce that
something is easy or small (like "only"). In this sense, it's used after nouns
as well

> ちょっと待つぐらいならいい I don't mind waiting (if it's only) for a bit  
>  ケーキ五個ぐらいなら食べられる If it's only 5 cakes, I can eat them

