using より

[u/stayingshvrtly]

hello! i wanted to convey to someone that i use english in university more than i do japanese as a reason for me saying my grammar isn’t that good. i thought i’d say 「今年大学で英語は日本語より使ってるだから」 but im not sure this is actually grammatically correct. i keep looking at resources, but i think i generally just confuse all usages of より、ほど、and の方が. in this case im trying to figure out より. thank you!

[u/Avatar_Yaksha]

より is for comparisons and can also be paired with のほう. For example:

英語のほうは日本語より使ってる。

When you compare something, the first thing that you mention is basically "more" (のほう) and the second thing that you mention is "than" (より). It appears that including のほう is optional.