に応えて【にこたえて】

に応えて means "in response to" or "living up to": someone acts to meet a request, a demand, an expectation or a need that others have directed at them. It goes straight after a noun, and the noun is nearly always one of a small set: きたい期待, ようぼう要望, ようせい要請, にいずニーズ, こえ声.

It belongs to news, business and formal speech, and the nouns it takes are formal ones. For an everyday request, conversation uses たのまれて頼まれて: ともだち友だちにたのまれて頼まれて, "because a friend asked me".

応える or 答える

Both read こたえる. こたえる答える is answering a question; 応える is meeting what someone hopes for. Writing the wrong kanji is the common slip.

• × 期待に答えて → 期待に応えて

に応えて or に応じて

におうじて応じて means "depending on": you adjust to a condition that varies, such as じょうきょう状況, ねんれい年齢 or よさん予算. With a request both occur – ようぼう要望におうじて応じて is complying with it, 要望に応えて is meeting what people hoped for. きたい期待 takes only に応えて.

Before a noun

Before a noun, the pattern becomes にこたえた応えた or にこたえる応える. The stem にこたえ応え joins two clauses in writing.