Hi,
1. マルフォイが何か言ったら、何が起きたかダンブルドアだけははっきりわかるはずだ。
There have been discussions here before about the dual meaning of だけ as "only" or "this/so much". In this sentence, is there any way to determine which of the following is intended, other than by what makes most sense in the context?
i) Only Dumbledore would clearly understand what had happened; therefore it would be OK (as no one else would understand)
ii) Dumbledore would clearly understand what had happened, which would be bad news
2. 今やノート型コンピューターは弁当箱と同じくらいが一般的だ。
The structure of the second part of this sentence defeats me. It is supposed to mean that notebook computers are as common as lunch boxes, but I can't see how that meaning is obtained. To me it looks like "As for notebook computers, the same quantity as lunch boxes is general/typical", which makes no sense.
1. マルフォイが何か言ったら、何が起きたかダンブルドアだけははっきりわかるはずだ。
There have been discussions here before about the dual meaning of だけ as "only" or "this/so much". In this sentence, is there any way to determine which of the following is intended, other than by what makes most sense in the context?
i) Only Dumbledore would clearly understand what had happened; therefore it would be OK (as no one else would understand)
ii) Dumbledore would clearly understand what had happened, which would be bad news
2. 今やノート型コンピューターは弁当箱と同じくらいが一般的だ。
The structure of the second part of this sentence defeats me. It is supposed to mean that notebook computers are as common as lunch boxes, but I can't see how that meaning is obtained. To me it looks like "As for notebook computers, the same quantity as lunch boxes is general/typical", which makes no sense.