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Ch.16 of the textbook 中級から学ぶ日本語 introduces the ～と、 structure, with this example:

早{はや}く花{はな}がさくようにと、毎日水{まいにちみず}をやっている。

Without the と particle I would read this as 'I water the flowers everyday so that they bloom quickly' as per the verb+ように structure.

I'm inclined to think that this is the と which has the 思って, 言って, 感じて omitted (per A Dictionary of Intermediate Grammar p.464) but I can't see how or why any of those three verbs would apply to the above sentence.

The exercise for this structure wants us to complete some sentences, these are two of them, noting that one of them is かと:

少しでもやせられるようにと、＿＿＿＿＿
いつ帰ってくるかと、＿＿＿＿＿

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Whenever you suspect a quotative 「と」, it would often help understand the sentence better if you actually put the supposedly quoted phrase in real or imaginary parentheses AND insert a verb after the と that you feel might have been implied by the author or speaker.

[早]{はや}く[花]{はな}がさくようにと、[毎日水]{まいにちみず}をやっている。

= 『早く花がさくように』と、毎日水をやっている。

= 『早く花がさくように』と（[思]{おも}って、[願]{ねが}って, etc）、毎日水をやっている。

Despite your statement, 「思う = to think」 does fit there and so does 「願う = to hope」.　「[祈]{いの}る = to pray」 would probably be too much. 「思う」 in Japanese can contain the nuance of "to hope" depending on the context and this sentence belongs to such context.

「[感]{かん}じる」 does not fit.

「[言]{い}う」 would fit if the speaker actually uttered「早く花がさくように！」 when s/he watered the plant everyday.

= "I water the plants everyday hoping they bloom soon."

If you meant to ask us to do the exercize at the bottom, here are a few examples.

[少]{すこ}しでもやせられるようにと、____________。 Again, the verb implied after the 「と」would be 思い、思って、願って, etc. 「～～ように」 means "so that ~~". = "so that I could get as slim as possible."

Suggestions for the last half:

毎日2[時間歩]{じかんある}いています / デザートを[食]{た}べないようにしています / ビールをやめました, etc.

Finally,

いつ[帰]{かえ}ってくるかと、＿＿＿＿＿＿。 The verb implied here would be 思い or 思って. 願う is not possible because it is about "when someone would return", not "someone returns soon".　「か」 must be used when a question word is used. In this case, the question word is 「いつ」.

Possible phrases for the last half:

ワクワクしています / [心配]{しんぱい}しています / [楽]{たの}しみにしています, etc.

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  • Thank you for your response. I think perhaps not understanding this use of ように also added to my confusion. Now that I think about it, I've often seen ように。 at the very end of a sentence in things like advertisements or cards. I have a followup question. Based on your explanation, I'm wondering if there are in fact two verbs omitted: 『早く花がさくように➀』と➁、毎日水をやっている。 where　➀ is 願う and　➁　is 思う, so that: 早く花がさくように願っている 'I'm hoping that the flowers will bloom soon' と思って is what I thought, so 毎日水をやっている。 I water them everyday.
    – VeryCommonName
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 13:44
  • That is an interesting question. The short answer, however, is no. Using both 願う and 思う like that is not only awkward but is also ungrammatical. It might work better if the second verb were 言う because one could "utter" a phrase ending in a verb like 思う or 願う.
    – user4032
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 15:21

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