世界一長いホットドッグ / も / 今の様子を見て / そんなことを言ったら

[eeky]

Hello,

1. The text has been explaining how some world records seem easier to beat than others. Then it says:

例えば、みんなで協力して世界一長いホットドッグや世 界一大きいピザを作る。

Later, a comprehension question asks:

世界一長いホットドッグは一人で挑戦するのですか。

I understand that the text is basically talking about making the world's longest hot dog and largest pizza with the help of a lot of other people, and that the question is asking about making the largest hot dog by oneself.

However, I do not understand the "mood" of 作る in the main text and する in the question. I want it to mean "You could make the world's longest hot dog with the help of others..." and "Could you make the world's longest hot dog by yourself?", but I do not see anything in the Japanese that corresponds to "could".


2. それなら私にもできそうな気がする。

I'm uncertain what も applies to. Does this mean:

- "I too feel it's possible" (i.e. other people also feel it's possible)

- "I feel I too can do that" (i.e. other people can also do it)

- "I feel I can also do that" (i.e. I can do other things as well)

- ???


3. This is a note on the use of ～そうだ:

今の様子を見て、その物、人がどうであるか推測する。

Does this mean, in slightly tortured English, "Judging from present appearance, someone (人) guesses what/how the thing in question (その物) is"?

I don't understand how その物 grammatically connects to the rest of the sentence. Is there an omitted/implied particle or linking word?


4. そんなことを言ったら、先生にすごく怒られそうな気が する。

I understand this to mean "Someone has a feeling that if someone says that kind of thing, they'll get a severe telling-off from the teacher."

Is it possible to guess who the "someones" are likely to be (speaker, addressee, third party), or is it intractably ambiguous without context?

 

[Glenn]

1) I suppose you could interpret it as "could make", but I was thinking more like "for instance, making the world's longest hot dog or world's largest pizza", which I know is a fragment, but it had that feel to me.

The second one I'd interpret as the "could" version, although it kind of feels like ものだ would be better than のだ here to my non-native intuition.

2) It's b, "I feel I too can do that" (i.e. other people can also do it).

3) It's like その物や人, and it means to conjecture the present state of someone or something by looking at them.

4) I'm going with "intractably ambiguous without context" on this one. I don't see anything in the text to tip off who the "someones" are.

 

[eeky]

Thanks Glenn!

It's like その物や人

Oh yes, of course .... so the subject of 推測する is some unspecified person, and not 人, right?

In a different context, is it possible for 人がどうであるか推測する to have 人 as the subject of 推測する, and どうである to have as subject some other person or thing indicated by the context?

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
Yeah, I, too, read it as 例えば、…作ること.

4)
The subject of 気がする is the speaker or "I".

Oh yes, of course .... so the subject of 推測する is some unspecified person, and not 人, right?
In a different context, is it possible for 人がどうであるか推測する to have 人 as the subject of 推測する, and どうである to have as subject some other person or thing indicated by the context?

Yes and yes.

 

[Glenn]

Ha, yes. I suppose you can't really use 気がする for anyone but yourself. I was, uh... busy thinking about other things.