質問: X1ばX2ほどY is more common than X1ばX2だけY and seem to have similar meanings. I've also seen X1ばX2だけY being used with X2 being used in both the present and past tense, and I don't think I've seen the past tense much with XばXほどY, and occurrences on the web seem to confirm that. For example 「売れれば売れただけ」turns up many hits, but 「売れれば売れたほど」only 4. Same for 「食べる」. Can someone please clarify the differences in usage and nuance between the two patterns, and the two tenses for X2. Edit: Since the past tense sounds unnatural to people, here is the transcript of the drama the example is from, in case context helps: A: 僕の小説は面白いですか? B: もちろんです。150万部突破ですよ。数字が証明しています。 A: 売れれば売れただけ面白いってことですか。
回答: The only answer I can give you is the translation of page 299 of 日本語表現文型辞典 od ASK publishing. * Both express that: “the more the thing expressed in the first sentence is strong, the more the expression in second sentence gets strong too”. The ば that expresses the condition is frequently omitted. * (~ば)~ほど expresses a situation in which a tendency grows propotionally stronger 「〜ば、もっと/むすます」 * 〜ば〜だけ is frequentlt used in the form 「〜ば、動詞のた形+だけ」「〜ば、それだけ」「〜ば、動詞のた形+ぶん」 For example 磨けば磨くだけ綺麗になる/磨いただけ、綺麗になる。 Or 磨けば、それだけ綺麗になる/磨いた分だけ綺麗になる