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spurrymoses
JLPT Helper
Joined: 24 Apr 2005
Posts: 399
Location: Sydney, Australia
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 Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:29 pm Post subject: Slightly odd grammar - even for a Japanese person |
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The JLPT examiners seem to occasionally use words or grammar that is either old or that even sounds a little bit funny to native speakers.
For example, an exerpt from the same Listening Comprehension as my previous post (2003, #4):
| Quote: |
| M: もうすぐ、ぼくより 高くなりそうでしょう。 |
I had to ask a native speaker what this means. Perhaps I should have known... in any case the response was interesting.
Ultimately, the native speaker would much rather say this, which is really interesting, because I understand this one perfectly:
| Quote: |
| もうすぐ、ぼくより 高くなるでしょう。 |
The problem with the excerpt from the JLPT3 Listening Exam, is that it combines 'looks-like' (sou desu) and 'deshou' (probably). A strange combination to me and to a native speaker.
Is JLPT teaching us stuff that natives find strange and wouldn't use? Well, it certainly keeps your grammar experience wide-ranged. So I don't really mind, but little informative posts like this need to be written or it will catch a lot of learners.
Actually, there are 2 things that caught me. I'd also never heard much about verb-stems with + sou desu. That is where ふり is used instead of ふる for the verb 'to rain'. So I looked up this up and found a small note at the bottom of my Genki Textbook which explains that stem form eg. 雨がふりそうです describes an imminent event. I'd never seen it used before so it threw me.
What they wanted you to think (and I did) was that the conjugation of 'buy' 高くな・・・ was a negative thought. So 高くなり sounds a lot like 高くない。Even though, you should know that to negate a sou-desu you'd have to write 高くなさそう。
Very tricky... If you had enough time in the exam to think about all that, you'd probably have no problems 
Last edited by spurrymoses on Sun Aug 14, 2005 5:17 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Tim
JLPT Helper
Joined: 29 Jul 2005
Posts: 218
Location: Perth, Western Australia
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| Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| M: もうすぐ、ぼくより 高くなりそうでしょう。 |
I think this would translate as: "It seems like you will probably become taller than me soon"
I also do feel uncomfortable with the ～なりそうでしょう part though.
I agree with the native speaker's replacement sentence.
With using ～そうthere are 2 different meanings depending on if you use the conjunctive form (～ます form without the ます) or if you use a plain verb ending ( ～る,～う...etc).
One is 降りそう (ふりそう) which means "It seems like it's gonna rain"
The other is 降るそう (ふるそう) which means "I heard that it's gonna rain"
So one is used for your observation, while the other is for hearsay.
Your idea about the 高くな・・・ bit is incorrect. It is a conjunction between 高い and なる (to become).
Therefore, 高くなりそう means "seem to become taller" |
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spurrymoses
JLPT Helper
Joined: 24 Apr 2005
Posts: 399
Location: Sydney, Australia
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| Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Tim wrote: |
Your idea about the 高くな・・・ bit is incorrect. It is a conjunction between 高い and なる (to become).
Therefore, 高くなりそう means "seem to become taller" |
Thanks. That's definitely correct.
Actually, I think I've just been a bit unclear with my writing. I'm glad you pulled me up in any case.
I understood the right answer (高くなる- to become) but my idea from that point on only talks about what I think they were trying to trick me into thinking without mentioning the right answer - as you say. |
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Tim
JLPT Helper
Joined: 29 Jul 2005
Posts: 218
Location: Perth, Western Australia
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| Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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I see, I had the feeling you knew it, although i couldn't really tell from what you wrote so i decided to correct it just in case. :P |
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