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Came across this sentence while reading:

> もう雲は鼠色 **になり** 、向うの山には山焼けの火がまっ赤です。

Assuming I'm reading it right, I'd expect it to use なる, not its masu stem.  
e.g.

> もう雲は鼠色 **になる** 、向うの山には山焼けの火がまっ赤です。

Is **になり** just another way of saying "is" or "be" as in "Already the clouds
are grey"? Or is there some greater nuance?

**EDIT** :  
Chocolate posted some great links in the comments on this post explaining how
a verb's stem form can be used as a conjunction.  
[Is there a term for using conjugating verbs such that the sentence continues
with another clause?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/9771/is-
there-a-term-for-using-conjugating-verbs-such-that-the-sentence-continues-wit)  
and [なく vs. なくて and stem form vs. てform as
conjunctions](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2934/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F-vs-%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A6-and-
stem-form-vs-%E3%81%A6form-as-conjunctions/2935#2935)
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2018-03-01T00:27:21.237
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2018-03-01T01:59:18.387
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question
nuances
What's the difference between になり and になる?
It is entirely different. なり here is the conjunctive form of the verb なる
(become). You can rewrite it as なって if that's clearer for you.

> もう雲は鼠色になり、向うの山には山焼けの火がまっ赤です。

and

> もう雲は鼠色になって、向うの山には山焼けの火がまっ赤です。

means the same (The clouds turned grey and the sun, setting on the mountain in
front, is crimson), but the former is more formal.

On the other hand, if なる appears in the middle of a sentence that means that
we are dealing with the attributive form of なる. (However, since there is a
comma なる feels a bit unexpected and the meaning of the sentence is unusual.)

> もう雲は [鼠色になる向うの山] には山焼けの火がまっ赤です。

As for the clouds, on the mountain which will turn grey, the sunset is
crimson.

Which is more or less gibberish.

I know that my translations are far from perfect but they should be enough to
point out the big difference between なり and なる here. In case you want to
improve the translations please feel free to do so.
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2018-03-01T00:55:34.180
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answer