I know what they mean; however, I'm not sure what the difference is. Does the
difference have anything to do with formality?
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2021-01-12T12:50:21.743
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2021-01-12T20:16:50.777
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question
grammar
What's the difference between 早いほうがいい and 早いほどいい
I assume that「早いほどいい」 is 「早ければ早いほどいい」, so:

  * 早いほうがいい: it should be early/soon; if not early/soon, it's not really good.
  * (早ければ) 早いほどいい: as soon as possible, not early is OK.

For example:

  * 「あなたは 歯医者へ行くのは 早いほうがいい。」: You should go to the dentist soon, if you not, your teeth will be more hurt.
  * 「あなたは 歯医者へ行くのは 早ければ 早いほどいい。」: You booked a date to go to the dentist, the dentist says you should go as soon as possible (it depends on your schedule).
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2021-01-12T17:37:41.173
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2021-01-12T17:37:41.173
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answer
Thanks! I managed to figure it out myself tho. Both mean the same thing "The
sooner, the better"

ほうが is used to compare nouns ほうが＋いい which, in this case, translates lit. to
sooner is better (doing sth sooner is better)

ほど can be used with different parts of speech (verbs, nouns, adjectives,
etc.), and depending on what sounds natural in English it can be translated to
"The sooner you do sth, the better" as well. However, there are other ways to
translate it.

So, it was important to establish the context first. The person wanted to call
the police, and, I believe, she said sth like "Calling the cops is our only
choice" and then added 早いほうがいい which means "(Calling them) sooner (than later)
is better." Omissions are quite common in spoken Japanese, right? :)
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2021-01-12T20:16:50.777
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answer