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映画が好きなので、時間とお金が（　　）かぎり見に行っている。

I haven't been able to find a satisfactory answer as to why 許す in plain dictionary form works better here than 許せる, the potential form.

動詞につく場合は、ている形や可能動詞などにつくことが多い。

seems to imply that ～限り can take the potential form just fine. Can someone explain why the plain form should be used in this sentence, and whether or not this is a representative example or a unique case?

Edit: Another sentence from the same source (Shin Kanzen Master N2) uses the potential form here:

考えられる限りのことは考えてみたんですが、いい案が出てきませんでした。

So clearly the potential form can be used with this construct, at least sometimes.

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    In English, do you say "if time allows" or "if time can allow"?
    – naruto
    Nov 28, 2020 at 2:33
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    I did think of this parallel, but even in English I can't explain why the former is preferred. To me at least, the second seems grammatically acceptable, just unnecessarily wordy. I wasn't sure if this reasoning is the same or different in Japanese.
    – octosquakk
    Nov 28, 2020 at 3:03

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To me, 時間が許す is just a set phrase. 時間が許せる is grammatically correct for sure, but it sounds wordy and strange in most situations.

Traditionally, a sentence like this was rare and unnatural in Japanese. Usually time does not allow or reject something as if it had its own will. 時間が許す is okay because it's an established set phrase, though. Maybe it was something directly imported from English "time allows"?

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  • Thanks for confirming that this has less to do with the actual grammar, but rather with just idiomatic usage. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something fundamental before blindly memorizing.
    – octosquakk
    Nov 29, 2020 at 20:34

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