按照grammar point · tier 1 · according to 按照 (conform to a rule/plan)
· ànzhào
Coverb that names a rule, plan, or instruction the following action is carried out to match.
字源 FORM what the parts do
按 is a hand (扌) pressing down, 安 ān on loan for the sound; 照 is light thrown on a thing, 昭 on loan for the sound, fire (灬) beneath. Pressed flat against the rule and held up to its light, the pair reads: do it the way this says.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A hand lays the work flat over a template and holds it there; the cut follows the printed line.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[subj] 按照 [standard/plan] [verb phrase]
觸 · Trigger
You did something the way a named rule, plan, or set of instructions laid it out.
序 · The move
1Name the template first: the rule, plan, schedule, or instructions you are following.Is it something you obey and execute, not facts you reason from? If facts/evidence, reach for 根據.
2Put 按照 + that template at the front of the clause, before the subject's action.The template is a standard to match, not the agent doing the matching.
3State the action that conforms to it.Drop 按照 and the sentence still means you did the action on its own — 按照 only adds the conforming-to.
例 · Examples
1他們按照ànzhào — according to旅遊書上的介紹jièshào — write-up, description，安排ānpái — to arrange了三天兩夜的旅行。
Going by the guidebook's write-ups, they set up a three-day, two-night trip.
按照 takes a rule/plan you carry out to match it (按照規定辦 — do it the way the rules say). 根據 takes facts/evidence you reason from (根據資料判斷 — conclude from the data). Conform-to vs base-on.
Same job, same 照. 按照 is the everyday partner; 依照 leans formal and written.
✗ 根據老師說的步驟做 (you execute the steps, not reason from them) → ✓ 按照老師說的步驟做
✗ 按照這些數據，銷量在上升 (drawing a conclusion) → ✓ 根據這些數據，銷量在上升
✗ 他按照得很好 → ✓ 他做得很好 (按照 governs a standard, never takes a degree complement itself)
English 'according to' also reports a source ('according to him, ...'). Chinese splits that off: reporting a source is 據說 / 根據; 按照 only means conforming your own action to a standard.