は元よりplaceholder

Most Recent Replies (11 in total)

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  JDong

  Also curious, it feels like they are synonymous

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  John-Bunpro

  The primary difference here is that を始め can simply introduce the leading or representative example of a group, while はもとより has a stronger nuance that the first thing/element goes without saying, but the second element (which you might not expect) is also the case.

  There are many cases where both would be grammatically valid, but the nuance/framing of the statement would change.

  For example, if we take the first example sentence from this writeup:

  この商店街は地元の人はもとより、全国からの観光客で賑わっています。
  This shopping street is crowded with not only locals, but also tourists from all over the country.

  If we made this
  この商店街は地元の人を始め、全国からの観光客で賑わっています。

  …it would have the same general meaning but feel more neutral and objective, with less of an emphasis on the fact that locals go wit...

• 

  JDong

  That’s a huge help, thank you!