もっとも / に見られた / んじゃないですか / 今度 / になって

Hi,


1. 彼の日記は出来事の羅列に近かった。もっとも時には、 長々と記述することもあった。

Translation given: "His diary was a kind of list of events, though he commented at length once in a while."

Does もっとも時に mean "once in a while" then? I can't seem to find any sense of もっとも that would make that meaning.


2. 彼らの最高の技術は木工細工に見られた。

Translation given: "Their highest skill was woodworking.

How does に見られた work, and what is its literal meaning?


3. そのセーターけっこうしたんじゃないですか。

Does this mean "Isn't that a nice sweater?", where the speaker thinks it's nice, and is asking a fairly rhetorical question where agreement is expected?


4. 今度のテストではいい点が取れそうな気がする。

My translation: "I have a feeling I'll get a good mark on this test".

Here, is 今度 referring to a test that the speaker has already taken, or a test that the speaker is going to take in the future, or is it ambiguous?


5. 以前は地球は平たんになっているものと思われていた物 です。

Translation given: "It used to be thought that the earth was flat."

a) What is the meaning of になっている here?

b) Is もの referring to 地球 or to something more abstract to do with beliefs?

c) Is there any reason why もの is written in kana in one place and kanji in another?

2. "....was seen as...." or "....was considered to be...."

Something along those lines.

1)
That's not an adverb 最も but a conjunction 尤も, i.e., "though" as in the translation.

3 (接続)
前の事柄を受けながらも、それに反することをつけ加え ることを表す。そうはいうものの。ただし。

君の悪行をばらす。―僕の願いを聞けば別だ

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http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=U...me=0ss&stype=0

2)
I think that's the potential of 見る, the same usage to 努力のあとが見られる.

We were able to see their highest skill in the woodworking.

3)
する means （いい）値段がする "to be expensive" in this case.

4)
The second interpretation is most common because of 取れそう. If the exam is already over, the form would be 取れたような気がする.

5) a)
That expresses "state", similer to だ.
e.g.
ここの海は遠浅になっている。

b)
It would be a nominalizer. You can think ～ものと思われる as a set phrase.

［4］ （「…ものと思われる」などの形で）判断を強調する。

彼はもう帰った―と思われる

あきらめた―とみえて、その後何も言ってこない

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http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=U...me=0ss&stype=0

Incidentally, the second "mono" is the past form of ものだ as in the translation "It used to ...".

c)
Basically it's the writer's preference. Although I believe hiragana is more common also for the second one.

Thank you both.

Toritoribe said:

する means （いい）値段がする "to be expensive" in this case.

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I guess this must be a very context-sensitive interpretation? Would けっこうした by itself give the "expensive" meaning, or would you have to see the whole sentence to know?

Also, I'm still unsure about the the nuance of ～んじゃないですか. I am very poor with these kinds of sentence-end combinations: whether they are real questions or rhetorical, whether the speaker thinks the statement is likely true or false, whether the speaker expects an agreement or genuinely wants an opinion, and so on.

Toritoribe said:

Incidentally, the second "mono" is the past form of ものだ as in the translation "It used to ...".

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Sorry, I'm a bit confused here. I thought the past was indicated by 思われていた, and 物 です would be just the polite version of ものだ. I'm not sure if I have misunderstood you.

eeky said:

I guess this must be a very context-sensitive interpretation? Would けっこうした by itself give the "expensive" meaning, or would you have to see the whole sentence to know?

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Indeed, けっこう is the key. そのセーターしたんじゃないですか doesn't make much sense, even if it's said in the flow of a conversation. Because the meaning is from this usage.

［2］ （価格を表す語に付いて）買い手の立場から、その値段である。あまり安くない場合にいうことが多い。

四〇万円もする高級カメラ

これいくらしたの

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eeky said:

Also, I'm still unsure about the the nuance of ～んじゃないですか. I am very poor with these kinds of sentence-end combinations: whether they are real questions or rhetorical, whether the speaker thinks the statement is likely true or false, whether the speaker expects an agreement or genuinely wants an opinion, and so on.

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I can only say "depending on the context". It can be an actual question asking the price or maybe compliment.

eeky said:

Sorry, I'm a bit confused here. I thought the past was indicated by 思われていた, and 物 です would be just the polite version of ものだ. I'm not sure if I have misunderstood you.

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Your interpretation is correct.

大人の言うことはよく聞くものだ。
You should obey adults.

昔の子供は大人の言うことをよく聞いたものだ。
Kids used to obey adults.

I just mean the past form is not 思われているものだった/聞くものだった.

Sorry Toritoribe, one final question on this if I may. Why is it not そのセーターけっこうするんじゃないですか?

Since the addressee already purchased the sweater. However, そのセーターけっこうするんじゃないですか is also acceptable for this case. The past form can't be used for the one that is not purchased yet, but the present form can be used for both "already purchased" and "not purchased yet". The present form けっこうする works as something like "worthy", "value" in that case.

Toritoribe said:

Since the addressee already purchased the sweater.

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Yes, of course. Thank you.