Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I read this sample sentence here:
留学をきっかけに、自分の国についていろいろ考えるようになった。
Studying abroad was a good opportunity for me to think about my own country.
This reminded me of this grammar point: をいいことに
So, what is the difference between the two? Are they interchangeable in this context? Which one feels more natural?
Sorry in advance for my unnatural English. If you don't understand what I'm saying, feel free to point out my mistakes.
To answer your question, をいいことに takes on a nuance of criticism. For example, quoting from this site,
先生がいないのをいいことに学校をサボった。
I took advantage of the teacher’s absence and skipped school.
In this sentence, the writer of this sentence criticizes the one who skipped school. In short, the writer is criticizing himself jokingly.
So, in "留学をきっかけに、自分の国についていろいろ考えるようになった。", をいいことに is NOT suitable. In general, をきっかけに and をいいことに are not interchangeable.
