Rules governing construction of phrases and sentences in a language.
5
votes
2answers
141 views
Varying word order for stylistic effect
Sometimes, for stylistic or rhetorical effect, one wants to delay mentioning a word/concept until the end of a sentence. For example, it's often best to save the punchline for the very end:
I was ...
16
votes
4answers
480 views
Are there cases when two or more particles will occur next to each other without intervening lexical words?
Most particles seem to be postpositions but I'm sure I've seen say a noun followed by a location particle followed by "wa" or "ga" or possibly "wo" but when I've tried to use it I've only confused my ...
10
votes
1answer
174 views
Unifying concept for noun-adjectives of the pattern Xかな
Consider these:
～か：
静か
愚か
厳か
～やか:
穏やか
鮮やか
賑やか
～らか:
柔らか
滑らか
明らか
There are many more that I've not listed.
The か/やか/らか at the end of these words ...
8
votes
3answers
315 views
Problems with は and が
Consider:
[A] 猫が好きだ
To me this means [A']"I like cats."
Contrast this to:
[B] 猫は好きだ
To me this means [B']"I like cats (among other animals)"
I based my understanding of [B] from Derek ...
7
votes
2answers
269 views
Can placements of adverbs be altered freely?
I'm curious if there is any difference in nuance between these two sentences:
彼は少なくとも週に一度車を洗う。
彼は週に少なくとも一度車を洗う。
I'm aware that grammatically speaking both are 100% right, but this question is not ...
5
votes
1answer
259 views
I have no idea what this is saying. Can you have two topics in a sentence?
白い箱はカウチの上に緑のランプは机の上にあります。
This sentence looks like it has two topics in it. But when I try to translate it, it doesn't make sense (to me obviously). My direct translation is: A white box on top of ...
10
votes
1answer
269 views
How did やわらかい gain its い?
As we know, there is a class of adjectives that end in 〜らか: 滑【なめ】らか, 明【あき】らか, 清【きよ】らか, 安【やす】らか, etc.
やわらか (柔らか or 軟らか) is also in this class of adjectives. However, it can also be written as the ...
8
votes
2answers
147 views
How to break down who did what in AにBをCさせる
I'm trying to understand the following:
後輩にサイフを開かせることはないよ
I guess this could be generalized as AにBをCさせる.
It's confusing. Maybe if someone can break down how to understand this and then I can ...
5
votes
2answers
206 views
Is it true that all nouns must be able to accept a が particle and a を particle?
Is it true that all nouns must be able to accept a が particle and a を particle?
I was curious about how we could form a sentence with:
特別が
特別を
出色が
出色を
3
votes
1answer
117 views
How does のは work in this sentence?
彼が持っているのは二百円です。 Supposedly this means "It is 200 yen that he has.". But I am really not familiar with this sentence construction. Therefore, I'm not sure how everything before の works with the rest of ...
3
votes
1answer
128 views
What is this や in 大きすぎや?
Is this a contraction along the same lines of なければ → なきゃ?
反乱を抑えるためだけが目的だとしたらリスクが大きすぎやしないか
Also, can you contract 言えば or あれば?
3
votes
2answers
240 views
Sentence ending に and のに compared to their non-sentence-ending form
Consider these:
[A] 僕はいい仕事があったら美智子さんと結婚出来ただろうに
[B] 僕はいい仕事があったら美智子さんと結婚出来たのに
Is に in [A] related to the case particle に?
Is のに in [B] related to the use of のに as a conjunction in ...
2
votes
3answers
203 views
Does contraction and elision affect formation of relative clause?
For example, やらなければならない can modify 時 to form やらなければならない時 and I know that the adjective い ending can simply have a noun appended after it.
However when it's contracted to やらなきゃ can I simply add a ...
2
votes
1answer
167 views
An i-adjective immediately before 「ください」?
Does it make sense to have an i-adjective (in て-form) immediately before 「ください」?
For example, when asked to choose between hot and cold coffee, can I use 「温かくてください」, or must I turn it into nominal ...
