57796
Some Japanese friends explained to me that adding のほど just makes the speech
sound more formal/polite and business-like, but the logic behind the use of ほど
(meaning "degree" or "extent", as I know) in such cases still baffles me.
Could someone pls explain? Many thanks in advance for your answers.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-08T07:54:37.253
57795
2018-04-08T08:36:05.733
18891
question
particle-ほど
Meaning of ほど in phrases like ご協力のほど , ご指導のほど, ご理解のほど (よろしくお願いします/ ありがとうございます) etc?
The usage and function of:

> 「Noun + の + ほど」

is explained very nicely in
[デジタル大辞泉](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%A8%8B-573325#E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.9E.97.20.E7.AC.AC.E4.B8.89.E7.89.88),
which says:

> ４ （「…のほど」の形{かたち}で）断定{だんてい}を避{さ}け、表現{ひょうげん}をやわらげるのに用{もち}いる。

My TL of that would be:

> "In the form of 「…のほど」, it is used to soften the expression by avoiding a
> declaration."

Thus, this means that it sounds softer and slightly more sophisticated to say,
for instance:

「ご協力{きょうりょく} **のほど** 、よろしくお願{ねが}いいたします。」

than to say:

「ご協力、よろしくお願いいたします。」

because the latter can sound too direct.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-08T08:36:05.733
57796
2018-04-08T08:36:05.733
57795
answer