- What role does 「のと」 play here? Is it simply linking multiple reasons for 「ので」, or is there some relation between the reasons listed?
Yes. It is linking multiple reasons for "ので". "のと" can be broken up into "の" and "と", where the former is appended to the adjective to make it a noun (e.g. "小{ちい}さいの" = "小さいこと" = "the fact that the knife was small"), and the latter simply plays the role of a conjunction (e.g. "AとB" = "A and B").
The word preceding "のと" can be a verb, い-adjective or な-adjective, with the な appended. Examples:
- あるのと
- 気{き}づいたのと
- 入{はい}っているのと
- 知{し}られていたのと
- 高{たか}いのと
- 静{しず}かなのと
You can replace "ので" with something that would be equivalent, such as "ことから" or "おかげで", or in spoken dialogue, where the last part of the sentence is implied and easily inferred by the listener, omit it altogether.
- Can 「のと」 also be used in this fashion for more than two reasons?
Yes, you can string together more than just two reasons with "のと" to make a list of reasons why something is the way it is, or why something happened. However, it might be stylistically better to vary what conjunctions you use; this especially if it is a long list.
An example:
幸{さいわ}いナイフが小さいのと、親{おや}指{ゆび}の骨{ほね}が堅{かた}かったのと、手{て}袋{ぶくろ}をしていたのと、すでに救{きゅう}急{きゅう}車{しゃ}を呼{よ}んでいたので、今{いま}だに親指は手に付{つ}いている。
But as you can see, it gets a little bit repetitive after more than one or two uses.
- What would be the difference between the above and the following?
They are two ways of saying the same thing. The て-form of an い-adjective is used to create a conjunction between the first and second clauses, where the clauses are independent of each other.
In the first clause, the knife is being described, and in the second clause, the hardness of the finger is being described. The combination of these attributes result in the speaker still having his or her thumb attached.
Using "のと" instead of the て-form would, however, imply at an earlier stage in the sentence that the properties being listed all contributed to a common effect (lowering the probability of cutting a finger off, in this case).