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Example sentence:

オオカミのことばに従い、 森に行った。

What is the meaning of this construction? Does it have a special meaning?

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  • At the risk of (inadvertently) answering the question in a comment...if you mean "従い," I just moused over it with Rikaikun and it gave the definition as an expression meaning "in accordance with; subordinate to."
    – steve_0804
    Jul 23, 2014 at 19:53

1 Answer 1

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A bare ます-stem can be used to join sentences together, much like the て-form. Another valid way to render this sentence would be as follows:

オオカミのことばに従って、森に行った。

In both cases it translates to "In accordance with the wolf's words, [I] went to the woods."

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    Is there a different nuance between using the て-form or the ます-stem?
    – olorin
    Jul 24, 2014 at 8:25
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    @olorin Yes, ます-stem (eg ~にしたがい、/~により、/~へ行き、/~と聞き、etc) sounds more literary and formal than て-form (eg ~にしたがって、/~によって、/~へ行って、/~と聞いて、etc).
    – user1016
    Jul 25, 2014 at 7:27

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