Hot answers tagged word-choice
11
Why are there so many terms for these generic words?
Most of them have defferent meanings. Some are used for Western royalty, Some are used for Chinese royalty.
王 - (in general) King e.g. アーサー王 King Arthur
王 - (in historical China and historical Asia) One of the titles of the loads in the Imperial China, or the King of the Imperial Chinese tributary ...
10
Comparing
ぜひ来てくださいね。
きっと来てくださいね。
ぜひ expresses a hope/wish, whereas きっと expresses an expectation. (必ず would express obligation.)
A teacher telling his students "きっと来てくださいね" means more like "I am expecting everyone to come". Thus きっと feels stronger (it's an expectation, after all), but may just mean that whoever is inviting really wants you to come.
...
6
The nouns 早さ and 速さ are derived from the adjectival verbs 早い and 速い, which both can mean both "fast" and "early". Being derived from adjectival verbs, they are native Japanese words.
On the other hand, 速度 is a Chinese-derived word, which means "speed" or "rate" (and doesn't mean "earliness").
The kanji 早 is usually used for the sense of "early" and 速 ...
6
範囲 establishes a beginning and end point and is used to show the extent or limit to something. That's why it is most appropriate for the first one, as it establishes the extent of the test (although 17課まで seems like a very difficult test...).
領域 and 分野 are similar and can overlap. For example, 専門領域 and 専門分野 can both be used. However, there is a difference ...
5
分野 is indeed bit more distinctive than other two. It refers to a specific section / discipline / field of something systematically organized, like science or human activities.
領域 have a more territorial feeling to it (because 領 refers to ownership and 域 refers to bounded area.) You picture a line drawing in sand and someone claiming that this side of the ...
5
Dictionaries unfortunately don't help us much here. For 掃除 there is a nuance of sweeping or wiping something to make it clean, but 清掃's definition isn't really different in essence and is defined in terms of 掃除 anyway. There might be a nuance with 清掃 of cleaning something to completion, but it's tricky. So what does the internet have to say?
Some answers ...
4
I'm not sure about hard and fast rules, but here's what I think:
I think 心 is used when it is a natural flow, and does not involve too much deliberation and exertion of strong will. 意 involves intention and volition. 念 gives me the impression that an idea has been persisting in the person's mind and he is considering it.
The short version:
心 - The ...
3
It's important to realize that there are two dimensions at play here. One is the "heartfelt" dimension, and the other is the "formality" dimension.
Both ありがとう and どうもありがとう are casual in the sense that you should only use them with people that you do not use 丁寧語 with. どうもありがとう shows more sincerity than ありがとう, but even (本当に)どうもありがとう would not be appropriate ...
3
Just for future reference, these type of questions always have the same answer:
Look at the 漢字 in these words. 事 means "thing, matter", whereas 理 is "principle, logic". Thus 事由 is a cause in the circumstantial sense, but a 理由 is a reason in the logical sense.
That said, 事由 sounds more formal and 理由 is certainly the more common word. (In spoken language, it ...
3
I don't think タイピングすることの早さ is incorrect; it just sounds very strange, like "the speed of the act of typing" in English.
I think the の is more commonly left out when dealing with 熟語, while it's more, if not completely necessary when using 単語.
タイピングの速度 → "The speed of typing" (correct, but sounds a little stiff)
タイピング速度 → "Typing speed"
タイピング速さ → ...
2
(I'm responding to your afterthoughts)
おすしを食べてもいいですか？
Could you use this in response? おすしを食べることができません。
I think you could say:
お寿司 は 食べることができません。
お寿司を食べること は できません。
お寿司 は 食べられません。
or お寿司 は 食べること は できません。etc.
... using the binding particle は somewhere.
おすしを食べてもよくないです。
one-- is this grammatically correct?
two-- is this saying what I think it ...
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