「この花瓶は **高くはある** が、それだけの値打ちはある」

I was studying with the "Dictionary of Japanese Grammar" and the above
sentence appeared. I am curious about the meaning of the locution in bold and
the difference it has with 「高い」.

Thank you for your time and sorry if this kind of question has been asked
before, but I haven't found it.
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2014-11-28T14:45:30.410
19698
2014-11-28T16:22:35.730
2014-11-28T15:04:38.780
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question
grammar adjectives
「高くはある」と「高い」の違い
This 「は」 is used for emphasis and in the sentence in question, it is
emphasizing the fact that the vase is indeed rather expensive.

It is used in the forms of:

> 1) [連用形]{れんようけい} of a verb or i-adjective + 「は」 + 「ある/ない/いる/いない, etc.」

and

> 2) Particle て or で + 「は」 + 「ある/ない/いる/いない, etc.」

「この[花瓶]{かびん}は[高]{たか}くはあるが、それだけの[値打]{ねう}ちはある。」, therefore, means 95% (or even
more) the same as:

「この花瓶は高いが、それだけの値打ちはある。」

The 5% difference is that the former places more emphasis on the monetary
value of the vase than the latter and it sounds more eloquent using the 「は」.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-28T16:22:35.730
19700
2014-11-28T16:22:35.730
19698
answer