According to ~ 「によれば」

Today let’s look at how to talk about things we have heard from other people and how to give our sources.

天気予報てんきよほうによれば明日あした台風たいふうるそうだ。
According to the weather forecast, a typhoon will come tomorrow.

Grammar Point

When we give information that we have heard we can use そうだ and ということだ

Verb in short form (する)そうだ。
Nounだそうだ。

Remember 食べるそうだ not 食べそうだ。食べそうだ’, which is the verb stem + そうだ, has a different meaning; It means to look like or seem to be about to.

Verb in short formということだ。
Nounということだ。

To  show where we heard or got the information from we can use noun + によれば

Aによれば、B.

According to A, B.

Note: You can also use によると instead of によれば for, as I understand, little or no change in meaning.

Examples

先生によれば、来週水曜日学校が休みだそうだ。
According to the teacher, next wednesday is a school holiday.

Today’s Photo

Today’s photo is from a small shrine I found while walking around the small back streets of Tokyo.