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So I'm reading Chapter 12 (of Minna no Nihongo I) and ran across this
sentence:

> 空港 **まで** バスと電車とどちらが速いですか。

It's translated as:

> Which is the faster way to get to the airport, by bus or by train?

Why isn't the sentence written this way?

> 空港 **に** バスと電車とどちらが速いですか。
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2012-06-21T01:54:02.970
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2012-06-25T06:43:32.373
2012-06-21T02:09:39.207
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question
particles particle-に
Why まで and not に?
In this type of sentence, `まで` means "all the way to ～" with emphasis on the
journey. The question is asking which is faster to get **to** the airport, but
in order to judge this, you have to consider the whole route. xref [this
post](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/80/78) for more information.
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2012-06-21T02:25:49.063
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Basically に is used with a verb, so you can rephrase the sentence with a
proper verb, for example 着く. The following sentences have almost the same
meaning as the original one using まで.

> 空港にバスと電車とどちらが速く着きますか。
>
> バスと電車のどちらが速く空港に着きますか。(more natural)
>
> 空港に行くのに、バスと電車とどちらが速いですか。

However, you cannot use に to modify a noun (バス or 電車) or an adjective (速い). It
is grammatically incorrect. You can say 空港まで速いか but cannot say ×空港に速いか. Also,
you can say 空港までのバス but cannot say ×空港にのバス.
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2012-06-21T11:07:00.880
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answer