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とも / だろう / でしょう / 動かされた / 英会話教師

eeky

先輩
8 Jun 2010
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Hello,


1. This is an instruction to students doing conversation practice:

二人ともくだけた言葉で話しなさい。

I understand this is basically telling the students to use informal language, but I don't know what とも means. Is it like "be sure to use informal language"? Or does 二人と...話しなさい mean "talk in pairs", with も slotted in with the sense of "also"?


2. 彼の秘密は近々あばかれるだろう。

Translation given: "His secret will be disclosed soon."

What is the nuance of だろう here? Is it describing something that is sure to happen in the future, as in the English translation?


3. 「あなたはイスラエルの教師でしょう」とイエスはいっ た。

Translation given: "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus.

What is the nuance of でしょう here?


4. 飲み会は楽しかったが、エミリーはなぜ自分が動かされたのか、どうしても分からなかっ た。

My translation: "The drinks party was enjoyable, but Emily still did not know why she had been made to move" (referring to an earlier incident when she was sitting in the wrong place).

Is 動かされた the passive form of 動かす ("was moved") or the (shortened) causative-passive form of 動く ("was made to move"). How can you tell?


5. 南西大学の横山先生から、そちらで英会話教師を探して いらっしゃると伺ったので、お電話いたしました。

My translation: "I'm calling because I was advised by Professor Yokoyama from Southwest University that you are looking for an English language teacher."

Is this OK? Is the subject of 探していらっしゃる the person being called? Is the subject of 伺った the speaker?
 
1)
二人共: both of you two

2)
Yes.

3)
"Guess", I think.

4)
動かす itself has the meaning of "to make move", i.e., acts as the causative of 動く. す is a classical auxiliary verb for causative, the equivalent to the suffix せる in modern Japanese. In these days, 動かせる is used only as the potential of 動かす, and never used as the causative of 動く. So, it would be natural to interpret 動かされる as the passive of 動かす, though the meaning is the same to the causative passive of 動く.

There is a hypothesis that the abbreviated causative passive form might be from the passive form of this す among some linguists.
e.g.
待つ --> 待たす --> 待たされる
買う --> 買わす --> 買わされる

5)
Yes, yes, and yes.
 
Thanks Toritoribe, it's very interesting to learn some of the history and etymology too.
 
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