あまり話してくれなくなりました / 間違えられる / 会社員 / の / ついて

[eeky]

Hi,


1. 子供は育つにつれ、あまり話してくれなくなりました。

Does this mean "As the child grew up, he became less talkative"?


2. スミスさんは＿＿＿＿＿＿＿、日本人と間違えられるぐらいだ。

This is an exercise where the student has to fill in the blank with some clause involving ほど or ぐらい. I'm not asking about that part, but about 間違えられる, which could, apparently, be either passive ("he is mistaken for a Japanese") or potential ("one can/could mistake him for a Japanese"). I have asked about this structure several times before (sorry for the repetition), but the recent instances have had inanimate verb subjects. Where there is possible ambiguity, an inanimate subject, as I understand it, normally indicates the potential rather than passive. However, here the subject is スミスさん, so could the verb be passive this time?


3. This is the title of a transcribed piece from a 新聞の投書欄:

人魚姫、今と昔
会社員 山口 登
北海道札幌市

I assume 山口 登 is the writer's name, but I'm a bit puzzled about 会社員. Does it mean that 山口 登 is a company employee? Why would such a thing be mentioned? I thought at first it meant he was an employee of the newspaper -- i.e. a staff writer -- but would that be right for a 投書欄?


4. 私が子供の頃に読んだのは、最後に人魚姫が海の泡になって死んでしまうという悲しい終わり方だったんですが・・・・・。

My translation: "The version that I read when I was a child had a sad ending in which the mermaid died and turned into sea foam."

In 読んだのは, is の a pronoun that refers concretely to "(the version of) the story", or is it merely a nominaliser needed for grammatical purposes?


5. ののしりの言葉が彼の口をついて出てきた。

Translation given: "Words of abuse poured from his lips."

After wading through several pages of possible meanings of ついて, it seems to me that 吐いて is the most likely candidate. Is that correct?

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
It's not the change of his character, but more likely the change of their relationship.

2)
Yes, it's the passive in this case. But it could be the potential depending on the context/verb even when the subject is animate.
e.g.
スミスさんは目がいい人で、髪の毛ほどの細さの傷も見つけられるぐらいだ。

As for 間違えられる, I think it's rarely used as the potential. 間違いうる(the (classical) potential of 間違う) would be used for the case.

3)
That's his occupation, just like 自営業, 農業, 会社役員.

4)
The former. It can be replaced with もの.

5)
Yes.

３ 好ましくないことを口に出して言う。「悪態を―・く」「うそを―・く」

つく - goo辞書

 

[eeky]

Thanks Toritoribe.

スミスさんは目がいい人で、髪の毛ほどの細さの傷も見つけられるぐらいだ。

Can I check that this means "Mr Smith has good eyesight and can even detect cracks as thin as a hair."?

That's his occupation, just like 自営業, 農業, 会社役員.

Right, I think this may be a cultural difference. In the UK, I can hardly imagine anyone describing themselves as a "company employee" as it sounds too dull and generic. But in Japan I think this designation probably carries more status?

 

[Toritoribe]

Can I check that this means "Mr Smith has good eyesight and can even detect cracks as thin as a hair."?

That's right.

Right, I think this may be a cultural difference. In the UK, I can hardly imagine anyone describing themselves as a "company employee" as it sounds too dull and generic. But in Japan I think this designation probably carries more status?

Yes, it's a quite common classification of occupation in Japan.