reason-し, reason-し twist?

[spurrymoses]

I'm quite confused by the use of し.

It's usually meant to give a list of reasons. Or, according to my textbooks, it can also imply 'several' reasons when you only give one followed by し. Sounds nice and easy so far, and judging from all the examples I've seen up until reading the past exam for JLPT3, it is.

However, the JLPT3 past exams have some rippers, that even with a native speaker by my side, I still can't fathom how it can mean what it's translated to. It appears that sometimes し is used without virtually any meaning at all, let alone 'reasons'.

Take these sentences. The first one is easy, classical use of し。Textbook stuff (which is what I'm expecting in a JLPT3 exam really).
1)

[Tim]

Hi spurrymoses,

The reason-し, reason-し grammar is as you say used to give a list of reasons.
The し itself kinda acts like a particle that means "and" but also implys that the word before and after is a "reason" for something.

It therefore has the meaning of "and" in a list of reasons.

In example 1, which you understand, it says that the restaurant's food tastes bad and is expensive. Notice how the し is translated as "and" with the "tastes bad" and "is expensive" as the reasons

[spurrymoses]

Ahhh, I see. I think I've got it now. Thanks.

No wonder the last one got me. I'd heard of やすい・にくい but I just didn't click that it was using the stem form of する。

This often happens to me I learn a grammatical form and then some uses of it, with certain words, just don't register.

[Tim]

Yeah, i understand what you mean..:wink: usually it takes actually seeing the grammar used in a real sentence in some real situation before you actually figure out a grammar form. Just seeing it in some real situation makes it so much more easier to remember.

It is difficult to learn grammar from just example sentences and descriptions alone. Though it is possible, it is harder to retain in my opinion.

Tim.

[rohan]

Thanks! I found that to be a useful explanation!
But:

[spurrymoses]