Compare two things with より
You know descriptions such as 速いです and 涼しいです. Read 飛行機は新幹線より速いです and point only to what is faster. The answer is 飛行機, the option before は.
1. A is described; B is the reference
The pattern is A は B より quality です. A comes before は and is the option described by the quality. B comes before より and is only the comparison reference. In 飛行機は新幹線より速いです, the plane is faster; the train is the reference point.
Break the sentence down as 飛行機は ‘as for the plane’ + 新幹線より ‘compared with the bullet train’ + 速いです ‘is fast/faster’. より does not automatically mean the word before it wins; A receives the quality in the final part.
飛行機は新幹線より速いです。
北海道は東京より涼しいです。
2. Reversing the roles changes the meaning
If you swap only A and B while keeping the same quality, you state the reverse. 新幹線は飛行機より速いです says the train is faster than the plane. It is grammatically formed, but does not answer the prompt ‘the plane is faster’.
You can describe the same reality from B's perspective if you also choose the opposite quality: 新幹線は飛行機より遅いです. Now the train is A and receives ‘slower’. Before building, note: A = described option, B = reference, quality = what is said about A.
3. Choose a quality that fits the comparison
Use 速い for the speed of transport and 早い for ‘early’ in time. Both are read はやい, but their kanji and meanings differ. The transport comparison in this lesson therefore requires 速い. 遅い can mean either ‘late’ or ‘slow’; the transport context makes ‘slow’ clear.
For places, you can use 涼しい ‘cooler’, 高い ‘taller’, and 大きい ‘bigger’. The Japanese form remains the ordinary adjective + です; より makes the comparison clear. Japanese does not add a separate ending corresponding to English ‘-er’.
スカイツリーは東京タワーより高いです。
飛行機は船より速いです。
4. ずっと strengthens a clear difference
ずっと comes before the quality and means ‘much’ or ‘considerably’ in a comparison: A は B よりずっと大きいです. Use it only when the context intends a clearly large difference.
Without ずっと, the sentence remains complete: 北海道は東京より涼しいです. The word is therefore an intensifier, not a required part of the より pattern. The final check does not require it for a correct basic answer.
中国は日本よりずっと大きいです。
5. Read roles before translating
Open the existing reading route about transport and places. Mentally underline A before は, then B before より, and only then the quality. Answer the comprehension questions without reversing the sentence word for word.
After reading, create a new sentence with two different items. The final check always specifies the intended option and quality; a grammatical sentence with reversed roles has a different meaning and does not answer the prompt.