What's the difference between による and によって?
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question
word-choice
What's the difference between による and によって?
「によって」 is like "depending on ..."

「好きな食べ物が人によって違います。」 (It depends on the person what food he/she likes.) or
(From person to person, it's different on what food he/she likes.)

while 「による」 is like "according to..."

「山口さんによると、アメリカの食べ物がおいしいです。」 (According to Mr. Yamaguchi, American food is
delicious.)

Unfortunately I still don't know other uses for the two, though.
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2015-06-04T09:21:01.747
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answer
They have the same meaning but different conjugation forms, which means, they
merely differ in their ability to connect to other words.

**による**  
Since よる is plain (dictionary) form, it's used as a main verb or noun
qualifier.

> 遠足に行けるかどうかは天気 **による** 。  
>  _Whether we'll be able to go on a picnic **depends on** the weather._

> 震災 **による** 被害は甚大だ。  
>  _The damage **(which brought about) by** the earthquake is immense._

**によって**  
よって is the _te_ -form of the verb, so practically it functions as a
postposition leading (actually following) a [sentence
adverb](http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/sentadvqa.htm) clause.

> ヒーローの活躍 **によって** 世界は救われた。  
>  _**Thanks to** the hero's efforts, the world is saved._

If you swap them in a sentence, you'll usually get very different things.

> ウイルス **による** 病気を治療する _cure a disease **caused by** viruses_  
>  (because ～による qualifies the noun 病気.)

> ウイルス **によって** 病気を治療する _cure a disease **using** viruses_  
>  (because ～によって qualifies the predicate 治療する.)
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answer