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おくれたことはない / 続けられるかどうか / 杯分 / 話 / 程度の大きさ

eeky

先輩
8 Jun 2010
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Hi,


1. アンディはけっしてデートにおくれたことはない。

Translation given: "Andy is never late for a date."

If this is meant as a general present-tense statement then why not おくれること? What is the difference between:

おくれたことはない
おくれることはない
おくれたことはなかった
おくれることはなかった

?


2. でも、今回は学校の夏休みを使ってボランティアをやっ てみることにしたから、長い期間のはちょっとね。続け られるかどうかわかんないから。

In the second sentence, is she wondering whether the summer holidays will be long enough for her to complete the volunteer project?


3. 東京ドーム5.7杯分

(Text is talking about the amount of beer drunk in Japan per year.)

I assume this means that it would fill the Tokyo Dome 5.7 times, but how does 杯分 create that meaning? Is it, for example, 杯 = "full" and 分 designating amount?


4. 人間寿命は100年にも満たないのだから、万の単位を 実感しろというのは無理な話だ。

a) I assume しろ is the imperative of する, right?

b) Does 話 refer to 「万の単位を実感しろ」? Somehow 話 doesn't seem the right word to me...


5. 感するのは程度の大きさばかりではない。

(Talking about visualising the length of time people have been on Earth as a proportion of the total age of the Earth.)

Does this mean "Experiencing/Visualising this is not simply a matter of size/scale"? I am a bit unsure why it says 程度の大きさ and not 大きさの程度...
 
Hey

1. アンディはけっしてデートにおくれたことはない。
This actually means "Andy has never been late for a date"
whereas おくれることはない is "Andy is never late for a date"

Does that help you see the difference in grammar better? "Andy is never late for a date" would be a fine translation for either sentence, but I just wanted you to see the actual grammar behind it.

Past tense + ことはある/ない is talking about whether someone has the experience of doing something.


1 おくれたことはない Andy has never been late for a date
2 おくれることはない Andy is never late for a date
3 おくれたことはなかった Andy had never been late for a date
4 おくれることはなかった "

The difference between 1 & 2 in Japanese is basically the same difference expressed in the English.
3 & 4 are basically the same.

Have to run but hope that helps
 
1)
In addition, 遅れることはない is basically the same as 遅れない. It can express the subject's will or the speaker's conviction.

遅れたことはなかった is often used in the context "has never been late until now/that time, but this is/was the first time being late".

2)
No. She is wondering whether she can continue the volunteer project after the new semester starts (so she said 夏休みを超えるほど長い期間のはちょっと困る).

3)
杯 is a counter for "cup(s) of".

4) a)
Yes.

b)
It's more likely "story", and 無理な話だ means "to be impossible/unreasonable" as a set.

5)
Aren't there any typos there?
 
Thank you both very much...

3. Could you explain what 東京ドーム5.7杯分 means in that context? I know that 杯 normally means "cup(ful)(s)", and I tried to understand it as 5.7 cups, but I don't get it.

5. I can't see any typos -- I mean, I think I have copied it correctly from the book, but of course there may be a typo in the book. Does what I wrote not make sense?
 
3)
If Tokyo Dome is a beer mug, the amount of beer drunk in Japan corresponds to 5.7 cups of it.

5)
感するのは doesn't make sense. it should be 感心するのは, 感じるのは or something.
The detailed context(the sentences preceding it) is needed to know what 程度 refers to.
 
3) Does 分 mean something like "amount" in that case?

5) I do apologise, I accidentally missed off the first character when I pasted it into this thread. It should read:

感するのは程度の大きさばかりではない。

It is talking, I believe, about visualising something that is very large, specifically the length of time people have been on Earth. My question really is: what is the difference here between 程度の大きさ and 大きさの程度?
 
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