It is; I don’t think Jonapedia was disputing that.
There’s actually a bit of a difference in meaning between the two; 傾向にある = “to continue to”, 傾向がある = “to have a tendency to” (interchangeable with ～しがちだ).
状況は改善傾向があります does work grammatically, but isn’t true: if they left the situation as-is, it would get worse.
I think なっている is more commonly ‘to have become’ (state) than ‘to be becoming’ (progression), but both interpretations are valid here, I think.
(I just want to understand what is being said here.
“The situation has become good”
I interpret as:
Some sort of finality has bee reached. The situation has become good.
“The situation is becoming good”
A state of finality has not been reached. The situation is improving but we still have ways to go before the situation changes to “good”.
In the context of the sentence, I think the 〜ている progressive is a more accurate interpretation.
Since in our context the continuous aspect seems like the right interpretation, I have trouble imagining なっている as commonly a stative verb.
Despite what’s been explained I don’t understand why it goes against the usual meaning of the continuous aspect for a binary stative aspect.
My turn to request a vulgarisation: what’s a binary stative aspect? The fact that it has either ‘become’ or ‘not become’ something? Are you saying that you don’t see why なっている is stative rather than continuous in the examples I gave?
Whichever it is, like I said earlier, I think that the continuous meaning is just fine here, though the stative meaning is also possible. In fact, there are plenty of Japanese verbs that can be both stative and continuous, even the most common ones: 言ってない can be translated as ‘I didn’t say’ or ‘I haven’t said’, or perhaps even ‘I’m not saying’. Everything depends on context. However, as I said previously (maybe about two weeks ago), some verbs have a greater tendency to be stative than continuous in their ている forms. 死んでいる, for instance, usually means ‘is dead’ or ‘has died’. It’s thus important to be aware of the ways each verb is used.
I brought up all those なっている examples, especially ことになっている, to show that なっている is often used to indicate a current state that was reached at some point in the past. 日曜日に仕事することになっている=‘Ended up doing work on Sundays’ (roughly), with the idea being that the person doing the work on Sundays didn’t necessarily have a say in the matter. That’s a stative use of なっている. There’s no progression involved. However, if we were to take another example, it’s possible for なっている to mean either thing. For example, with 大人になっている：
あ、私の娘は大学に入学して、やっと大人になっている。= Ah, my daughter is entering university and is finally turning into an adult. (But she’s not one yet because in Japan, you usually enter university around 18/19 and you’re not legally an adult until you’re 20, IIRC.)
もう大人になっているから、責任を取るしかない。= since I’ve already become an adult, I have no choice but to take responsibility.
So once again, both meanings are possible, and fairly common for なっている, and we’ll just have to interpret things based on context.
そして、ウイルスがうつらないやり方で、生産や買い物など経済の活動をだんだん始めてほしいと考えています。
This sentence continues the previous one, so the topic is still the government. For context, here’s the full paragraph:
Full paragraph
政府は、宣言をやめた所でもウイルスがうつらないように、マスクをしたり人と人の間をあけたりして気をつけてほしいと言っています。そして、ウイルスがうつらないやり方で、生産や買い物など経済の活動をだんだん始めてほしいと考えています。
ウイルスがうつらないやり方 = virus infection prevention measures
で = with
生産 = manufacture, production, industry
買い物 = shopping, retail commerce
経済の活動 = economic activities
だんだん = gradually
So the whole paragraph translates:
[Even in places that have ended the declaration, the government implores people to be careful so they don’t get infected. Wear a mask and avoid close contact with other people.] Finally, with infection prevention measures, they hope that economic activities such as manufacture and commerce can gradually restart.
We’re ready for a new article, anybody want to select one?
@POLLantron
We’ve both done it once. It could be @YanagiPablo, @Jonapedia or @_Marcus or anyone else for that matter. If no one steps up, I’ll pick one but I’d rather if people took articles which interest them.
@Jonapedia:
Sorry, it wasn’t well worded reply, I certainly could’ve been clearer or just more accurately. Allow me to try again. I went to get A Student’s Grammar of the English Language which I studied at university so I can use the right terms.
According to this book, verbs (in English) can have one of two sense:
Stative and Dynamic.
Verbs like be, have, and know have stative senses when they refer to a single unbroken state of affairs.
p. 48
In our example, “has become” is a stative. It’s binary, you have either become something or not. That’s what I meant by binary in my previous message.
For example:
The situation has become better.
[b] Dynamic verb senses can regularly occur with the imperative and progressive but stative verb senses cannot:
In my understanding has become is stative while is becoming is dynamic. What I don’t understand is how do you know that:
In English, love is usually stative although it can be used colloquially as a progressive. The stative version is more common than the dynamic version.
How do you know which verb in their ～ている are usually stative and not dynamic/progressive? Experience?
See for me, I’ve learned that ～ている from the very beginning is used for enduring states. I went and got my Tae Kim guide as well to see if they talked about what you brought up:
p. 101:
We already know how to express a state-of-being using [です], [だ], etc. However, it only indicates a one-time thing; you are something or not. This grammar however [～ている] describes a continuing state of an action verb. This usually translates to the progressive form in English except for a few exceptions, […]
If I understand correctly everything I’ve read, then なる is part of the exceptions which do not commonly translate to the progressive form in English.
Am I right?
OK, I understand which ‘stative’ you were referring to now. I ended up reading up on stative and dynamic verbs a while ago because of another post.
I guess so. There are some lists floating around. You’ll probably find them if you search something like ‘ている grammar’ or ‘ている stative’. Research papers have been written on the subject, I believe. I came across one in English while I was trying to learn about this ‘other meaning’ of the ている form, because like you, I thought ている was almost always equivalent to the present progressive tense. Again though, context usually tells you which interpretation to go with.
Uh… I feel like I still haven’t come across enough Japanese to tell you that it’s definitely an ‘exception’. Perhaps I should say it’s ‘commonly’ an exception in my experience? That’s about all I can say. I want to give you a definite answer, but I feel like I don’t know enough Japanese.
By the way, on the page you cited, a little further down, Tae Kim goes into a few common exceptions, but before doing so, he talks about 「結婚している」and explains that it can have both meanings, but is more commonly used to describe the state of being married. Here’s the thing though: an excited couple discussing their marriage plans is definitely using the verb in the dynamic sense when they say 「結婚しよう！」So it’s really a matter of context. If you’re talking about a woman in front of you who isn’t wearing a wedding dress, then you know that 「結婚している」indicates that she’s currently married. On the other hand, if you’re talking about your classmate whose wedding is starting now, you could say that he 「結婚している」.
To sum up, I think you could call なる an exception, but really, most of the time, you just need to decide which interpretations are possible given the context. That’s how I do it now, because I learnt the same thing as you initially (ている=present progressive), only to find that I got thrown off by the stative meaning very early on. (It appeared in the first episode of one of the first anime I watched.)
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@Jonapedia
Ok, I think that settles it. 
⓪ アルバイトがなくなって困っている学生に国がお金を出す
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012435761000/k10012435761000.html
①新しいコロナウイルスが広がって、仕事を休んでいる会社などが多いため、アルバイトができない学生がいます。
②１９日、アルバイトがなくなってお金に困っている学生が勉強を続けることができるように、国がお金を出すことを決めました。
③アルバイトでもらうお金が少なくなった学生には１０万円、生活が特に大変になっている学生には２０万円出します。
④お金をもらうことができる学生は、大学院や大学、専門学校、日本語学校などに通っている４３万人ぐらいです。
⑤留学生ももらうことができます。
(6) お金が必要な学生は自分が通っている学校に申し込みます。
⑦文部科学省は学生が６月からお金をもらうことができるようにしたいと言っています。
Currently available: None
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I wanted to tackle this explanation next.
I’ll be using this website as my source and reference.
使い方
1st [A]より[B]
OR
2nd より + adjective
So in our sentence it was:
前←より→よくなっている
Here よく is an adverb so it can only be the first function but there’s also this use:
Different Meanings:
より can also mean “from” or “since” when used after a time or place, but this meaning is only needed for JLPT N2 and above. See lesson for JLPT N2 より (yori).
Could 前 could as a “time” since it means before? As in:
[before]←[since][good/well]←[become(progressive)]
I feel like this is the best rendition of the sentence…
If there is something in front of より though, then that’s the thing with which a comparison is being made.
In other words:
前(before) より(comparison←)・よく(good/well) なっている (becoming)
僕の犬より大きなです
“My dog is bigger”
Is that a valid sentence?
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①新しいコロナウイルスが広がって、仕事を休んでいる会社などが多いため、アルバイトができない学生がいます。
“Because if the spread of the coronavirus, many companies and the like are off work which means some students can not find a part-time job”
Explanations
Interpretation:
= new vocabulary word;
=reflexion;
=translation;
新しいコロナウイルス『が』:
the subject of the sentence is the Corona virus.
広がって
の広がる【ひろがる】to spread out
here the 〜て links to the next part of the sentence.
仕事『を』
“Work” is the direct object of the clause I guess as opposed to the sentence?
休んでいる会社など『が』
Here I think 会社 is being described by 休んでいる as in:
“The companies on break from work;
など: “and the like”
多いため
“Many” + ため “consequence/as a result”
“The spread of the coronavirus has had the consequence of many companies stopping work/being off work…”
アルバイト『が』できない学生『が』います
Part-time job・not possible・student・there are
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I will tackle the title first:
アルバイトがなくなって困っている学生に国がお金を出す
アルバイトがなくなって = lost [their] part-time job
困っている学生に = students in need [of money]
国がお金を出す = country/government gives money
Students who lost their part-time job and are suffering from economic hardship will get cash handouts from the government
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～ため = “because of ～”
It connects to the clause that comes next: “many companies are closed and as a consequence some students can’t work”.
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②１９日、アルバイトがなくなってお金に困っている学生が勉強を続けることができるように、国がお金を出すことを決めました。
19日
On the 19th of May (this article is older than the other ones as I wanted to pick something which didn’t have anything to do with the coronavirus although it has something to do with the coronavirus).
アルバイト『が』
Part-time job is the subject of the clause. I’m saying clause because I don’t think it’s the subject of the whole sentence.
なくなってお金『に』困っている学生『が』
なくなって: “away”, ～て form of なくなる “to be missing” (I think)
So here I think なくなって is attributive to お金 as in “the missing money”.
困っている: “to be in trouble over”
Come to think of it, I think なくなってお金に困っている is a big chunk of attributive to 学生 which is “gated” by the 『が』that follows. It could be translated as:
"The students who are in trouble because over the missing money"
勉強を続けることができるように、
The students (who are in trouble because they’re missing the money of the part time jobs) is the subject here. Note that 勉強 is just a noun here as I’m personally used to seeing it used with する. So “studies” as opposed “to studying”.
ことが is a nominaliser so “continuing” their students. More specifically, できるように(so that can)…
"So that theStudents who are trouble because of the missing money of the part-time jobs…
国がお金を出すことを決めました。
Here the country (国) is the subject while money (お金) is the direct object. 出すこと is the verb nominalised because of the こと and it means: “to pay” when used with お金 as mentioned in the Weblio entry:
|〈金を〉|pay; supply; produce (目の前へ示す); provide (負担する)
Finally, 決めました means decided in the past.
"In order to allow the students who are in trouble because of the missing money of the part time job to continue their studies, the country (Japan) has decided to pay them money"
(I had a lot of fun doing that one, just the right amount of challenge).
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A te-form cannot be a direct attribute of a noun.
There may be a link, but not to the noun (お金), but to the whole following phrase
I think it is :
(アルバイトがなくなって + お金に困っている) → 学生
The students that “aren’t getting a job” (アルバイトがなくなる）and that “are in trouble with money” ( お金に困っている).
The first being in te-form as it isn’t directly before the noun 学生.
(if my understanding is correct (and I think it is), then it is a new grammar (at least for me) : a chain of sub-phrases in te-form inside a sub-phrase! not exceedingly difficult if we start to understand how Japanese likes to link verbs; but definitively a longer (and so a bit more complex) sentence than in the average notebook)
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If you look at the rest of the article, especially the examples, you’ll notice that the first usage is actually meant to be Aより、B, as in ‘instead of/rather than A, B…’. The second is indeed より + adjective, but it’s also possible to say 〜よりadjective. There was an example along the lines of 今日は昨日より暑いです。That’s what I meant by ‘if there’s something in front of より, then that’s the thing with which the comparison is being made’. It is true that より + adjective can appear as a standalone usage, but even then, there’s an implied comparison, and the moment you put something in front of より, you end up using that something as a standard for comparison.
I took at look at the N2 example sentences on that site just to be sure, and no, it’s not the same. When より is used in that sense, it can usually be replaced by から. It is a possible interpretation, but I think it’s awkward, especially since よく is really just an adjective form. You can interpret it as ‘the situation has become better since [the time] before’, but that’s not the most obvious meaning of より. I’ve never said this before because I didn’t want to confuse anyone, and based on what I just read in the dictionary, it’s probably completely wrong, but I’ve always thought that より is a lot like the verb よる (e.g. Aによると=according to A): both indicate the idea of using something as a foundation or starting point.
OK, first of all, grammatically, we’d need to remove the な, because な-adjectives only need to retain their な before nouns or nominalisers like の or こと. Secondly, that sentence actually reads ‘it’s bigger than my dog’.
Honestly, while I didn’t realise this when I first started learning Japanese… you can actually translate/parse a Japanese sentence more easily if you start from the end and reverse the order of everything. That’s how you get a sentence that has roughly the same word order as a sentence in an Indo-European language. That’s why you have AよりB=B rather than A; Aより早い=earlier than A; Aまで=until/up to A and so on.
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I went ahead and read Tae Kim’s explanation of より and found it lackluster so I checked my dictionary of grammar instead.
Sample sentence:
日本語『は』スペイン語よりおもしろい。
Japanese is more interesting than Spanish
So if I look at this sentence, the 『は』particle tells me that the sentence is about ‘Japanese’.
My dictionary gives me the following English terms for the expression:
than; rather x than y; more x than y;
What precedes より is Spanish so the adjective will be “more than” Spanish. In this case, it’s ‘interesting’.
So about （は）Japanese, Spanish←[more than][interesting].
I’ll go back to my example with the dog. So I remove the ーな because that’s when it’s used in direct conjunction with something else.
僕の犬より大きです
Now you say my sentence means: “it’s bigger than my dog”.
Suppose I said:
僕の犬『は』あなたの猫より大きいです。
Does it mean:
“My dog is bigger than your cat”? Because I followed the exact same pattern as the sentence in my dictionary.
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It does! Most beginner textbooks teach comparisons as AよりBのほうがCです = “B is more C than A”, but you can switch the word order around (as long as the particles stay attached to the words they apply to of course) and leave bits out if you want.
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So let’s go back
So in the structure I’ve provided, I think it’s fairly straightforward. In the sentence I got:
3. ⓐ安倍総理大臣は、ⓑ宣言を続ける所は「ウイルスがうつる人は少なくなって、ⓒ病院でしっかり治療できるようになって、ⓓ前よりよくなっている」と言っています。
ⓓ前よりよくなっている」と言っています。
So in this case, I don’t have the same sentence structure. 前 is what is being modified by 〜より just like in my example, あなたの猫 in my own sentence. Which 『は』should I refer to to establish my comparison?
I went to check in my dictionary for more sample sentences:
バス『で』行くより仕方『が』ない
I think I’ll settle for more than for now and see what happens when I come across より again.
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Whoo! Guys, I am loving this “Reading the News”!! Thank you so much for doing it! I am still waaaay back reading posts in the 70s, but just wanted to say. 
No offense, but YanagiPablo’s posts are my favorites, because he always puts the “reading” (pronunciation)(I am doing this for speaking knowledge, also). I was glad to see that the link to the NHK easy news includes an audio file.
EDIT regarding @POLLantron, below.
BWA HA HA ha!!!
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