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
In the grammar exercise book for JLPT N2, I came across the following question:
（ ）を食べてみたいものだ。
a. あ、このおいしそうな料理
b. 今日はユリさんのうちで手料理
c. 一度、その珍しい魚
the correct answer is c.
The explanation of the original grammar point said:
心からの希望を言う場合や一般的な希望として言う場合に使う。具体的な希望や要求を直接言うときには使わない。
From the explanation, I can see why b would not be an appropriate answer. But I couldn't figure out the difference between a and c.
The keyword is あ ("Ah!"). In (a), the speaker is saying あ and この ("this"), which means his desire is something that just occurred after seeing the dish. In Sentence (c), the speaker is saying 一度 ("at least once", "some day") and その ("that"), which means he is thinking about the rare fish and saying he has wanted to eat it at least for a while.
Please remember your book says 一般的な希望. As explained in the links below, this type of ものだ is used to describe a known or general fact (including one's longstanding hope). You cannot use ～ものだ to describe a temporary desire like (a).
Actually, I think there are situations where (b) makes perfect sense, so it's not 100% incorrect. But if I have to choose the most natural one in an exercise, I can safely choose (c).
See:
I think c is more appropriate than b with this information you provided.
今日はユリさんのうちで手料理を食べてみたいものだ。
I think this sentence is a little bit awkward. I think we need some emphasis in it for 心からの希望. If I make (b) more natural, I'd like to add ユリさんの料理は美味しいと評判だから、是非. The whole sentence should be
ユリさんの料理は美味しいと評判だから、是非今日はユリさんのうちで手料理を食べてみたいものだ。
"Because I've heard Yuri cooks very well, so I would really like to eat the dishes at Yuri's restaurant today".
For (c)
is natural standalone. 一度 is used as an emphasis for 心からの希望.(cf. No2. in the entry of goo辞書) It is similar to 是非 in the sentence.
一度、その珍しい魚を食べてみたいものだ。"I would really like to eat rare fish."
