こんにちは、 bunpro 皆様！
I have a question regarding ni yoru vs ni yotte. I can’t seem to grasp why, in the following sentences, one uses によって and one による. Both of these sentences are similar in the way that they describe some outcome that is “due” to something else… i’m kind of lost as to what differentiates them. Now i should mention that i have yet to make it to that grammar point on Bunpro. Here are the sentences:
彼の昨日の欠席は風邪によるものだった。
嵐によって多くの人が死んだ。
Thank you for your help
The difference between による and によって is the former is either terminal (i.e. it can end a sentence) or adnominal (it can appear before a noun or noun phrase), whereas the latter uses the continuative form of the verb. The continuative form is hard to translate in isolation, as it can perform many different functions based on the context in which it’s used.
The simple answer is, you use による at the end of the sentence and before nouns or noun phrases (e.g. にようもの, as in your first example). You use によって everywhere else. Incidentally, this isn’t unique to the verb よる.
This is one of those things that can be really hard to understand at first, but will become much clearer and more natural with more exposure to the language.
Thank you so very much for taking the time answering my question.
That helps quite a bit.
ありがとうございます 