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ほとんどの / のに / 三人の人 / でしょう

eeky

先輩
8 Jun 2010
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1. 出席者のほとんどがそれに賛成しました。

Translation given: "Almost all of those present were in favour of that."

ほとんどの学生がその会に出席しました。

Translation given: "Almost all of the students attended that meeting."

Why is it ~のほとんど in one sentence, and ほとんどの~ in the other? Is there any subtle difference in meaning, or are the two forms interchangeable?


2. 電車の中では携帯で話すことはできませんが、みんな電 車に乗るとすぐメールを熱心に打っているのにはびっくりしました。

My translation: "It's not possible to have a mobile phone conversation on the train, but I was surprised to see that everyone starts intently typing emails as soon as they board."

Looking at のに, am I right that の nominalises the phrase ending いる, and に is associated with びっくりしました, meaning "surprised at" or "surprised by"?


3. 三人の人に毎週一時間ずつ英会話を教えるアルバイトで すが、...

My translation: "I have a part time job teaching English conversation to three people for one hour each per week..."

Why 三人の人? Is the repetition of 人 some grammatical thing to do with counters?


4. 私たちの生活は、どんどん変わっていくでしょう。

Translation given: "Our lifestyle will continue to change rapidly".

While dictionaries tend to define でしょう as "I think; I guess; I wonder; I hope" etc., I come across examples like this where the translation does not carry any sense of doubt or lack of certainty. I asked a similar question before at つぎであります / のに / でしょう / にはいられない , where it was explained that でしょう was "asking light confirmation". Is this the same kind of use? How would you translate the above?
 
1. 出席者のほとんどがそれに賛成しました。
Translation given: "Almost all of those present were in favour of that."
ほとんどの学生がその会に出席しました。
Translation given: "Almost all of the students attended that meeting."
Why is it ~のほとんど in one sentence, and ほとんどの~ in the other? Is there any subtle difference in meaning, or are the two forms interchangeable?
Those are semantically the same and interchageable. ~のほとんど might sound a bit like written words.

2. 電車の中では携帯で話すことはできませんが、みんな電車に乗るとすぐメールを熱心に打っているのにはびっくりしました。
My translation: "It's not possible to have a mobile phone conversation on the train, but I was surprised to see that everyone starts intently typing emails as soon as they board."
Looking at のに, am I right that の nominalises the phrase ending いる, and に is associated with びっくりしました, meaning "surprised at" or "surprised by"?
Right. That's "the nominalizer の + the particle に". "Surprised at" would be more close to the example sentence. (I would use ~には驚かされた/びっくりさせられた for "surprised by".)

3. 三人の人に毎週一時間ずつ英会話を教えるアルバイトですが、...
My translation: "I have a part time job teaching English conversation to three people for one hour each per week..."
Why 三人の人? Is the repetition of 人 some grammatical thing to do with counters?
Yeah, the first 人 is a counter にん. That's quite the same construction as 3個のリンゴ or 3台の車.

4. 私たちの生活は、どんどん変わっていくでしょう。
Translation given: "Our lifestyle will continue to change rapidly".
While dictionaries tend to define でしょう as "I think; I guess; I wonder; I hope" etc., I come across examples like this where the translation does not carry any sense of doubt or lack of certainty. I asked a similar question before at つぎであります / のに / でしょう / にはいられない , where it was explained that でしょう was "asking light confirmation". Is this the same kind of use? How would you translate the above?
No, you can think it a kind of euphemism. どんどん変わっていきます sounds too strong, so we often use the expression such like 間違いなく/絶対に変わっていくでしょう even when there is no doubt. Of course, it also can be said that でしょう is used as future tense("will") here.
 
Of course. For some reason I was thinking さんにんのにん, which sounded a bit odd.

Thanks Toritoribe.
 
Well, I have to add a correction to my previous post.😌 ~のほとんど and ほとんどの~ are indeed semantically the same and interchageable in the example sentences, but I have realized that they have difference in meaning in another context.
e.g.
火事で家のほとんどが焼けた。
Most of the houses were burned in a fire./Most part of the house was burned in a fire.

火事でほとんどの家が焼けた。
Most of the houses were burned in a fire.

Thus, ~のほとんど can refer to "most part of a thing". There are similar differences between ~の一部/大部分/すべて/全部 and 一部/大部分/すべて/全部の~.
 
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