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このたなの一番おくの方にございます。

  * They are at the far end of this shelf.

This is an example sentence from one of my textbooks but I don't understand
what おく means and I'm a bit confused on the use of 方 as well, especially when
looking at the translation.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-05T18:53:17.807
18575
2014-09-07T00:55:17.740
4463
question
grammar translation usage nouns
Use of おく and 方 in this sentence
おく means the interior of something but is often used to mean "in the back".
This is the use of 方 (ほう) meaning a direction. So put together you get
something like "toward the deepest" part of the shelf, which you textbook has
chosen to express as the "far end".
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2014-09-05T19:20:50.997
18576
2014-09-05T19:20:50.997
6793
18575
answer
`奥{おく}` is the part far away from the "entrance" of a thing, so it could be
translated by `bottom` or `back` for example depending of the type of object
(e.g. a vase or a room). Or `end` in the case of a shelf ; it will most likely
refer to the part the farther from the speaker / listener in this case. So
`一番{いちばん}おく` would indeed be the `far end` of the shelf here.

What does `の方{ほう}` add then ?? `の方{ほう}` can indicate a direction, as in
`奥{おく}の方{ほう}へお進{すす}みください` (`please proceed _towards_ the back`), but can also
be used to refer to an area or more generally a thing in a _vague_ manner. I
think the sentence could also be translated to `They are _towards_ the far end
of this shelf`. It doesn't make a big difference though and I guess that's why
it is omitted in your textbook translation. It could also be omitted in
Japanese, `一番{いちばん}おくにございます` is perfectly valid but in this case it really
refers to a precise location and you wouldn't expect to find anything after it
(meaning they're the last items on the shelf).

* * *

Note: `の方{ほう}` being used to refer vaguely to things, leads to some people
abusing it in an attempt to sound less "harsh" (intending to be more polite).
You may hear it a lot in some restaurants for example. It doesn't add any
meaning more than making the statement generally more ambiguous though, and is
considered poor style.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-07T00:55:17.740
18588
2014-09-07T00:55:17.740
4533
18575
answer