名 / 準備を彼にさせる / 順調 / 出されたら

Hi,


1. This is part of the credit at the end of an essay:

日本の名随筆７４『客』、作品社

a) What does 名 mean? "Well-known" perhaps?

b) What is ７４『客』?

c) Is 作品社 something generic like "production company", or is it the name of a real company?


2. 大統領候補として立つ準備を彼にさせる。

Translation given: "Groom him as a presidential candidate."

a) I am unsure about the roles of を and に with させる. Does 準備を彼にさせる literally mean "cause him (= the potential candidate) to make preparations"?

b) Also, does 立つ modify 準備? If so, what does 立つ literally mean?


3. 準備運動からバタ足の練習まで滞りなく進み、レッスン は至って順調。

Translation given: "Proceeding from warmup exercises to leg kick practice without hitch, the lesson went completely smoothly."

What part of speech is 順調 here?


4.
嫌いな食べ物を出されたら、どうしますか。
お茶やお菓子、食べ物を出されたら・・・

My translations:
"What do you do when you are served food that you dislike?"
"If you are served tea and cakes or other food..."

In these cases is 出されたら an indirect passive (i.e. someone serves food and you are affected in some way)?

1. a) Yes, I'm pretty sure that's what it means.

b) It looks like 74 is the number of the 随筆 and 客 is the title. Not totally sure about that, though.

c) Company name: 作品社

2. a) Yes.

b) I believe the whole clause 大統領候補として立つ modifies 準備.

立つ
7) 2) 重要な役目・地位につく。「教壇に―・つ」「証人に― ・つ」「衆議院議員候補に―・つ」
To attain/be in an important role or position.
立つ

3. 形動（形容動詞）Or -na adjective.

4. I suppose it could be interpreted that way. But I think it can also just be the simple passive, similar to こっち来いと言われた.

1) b)
Yes, I agree with Glenn-san.

4)
Strictly speaking, those are both the direct passive sentences.

（私は主人に）嫌いな食べ物を出された。
（私は彼に）こっち来いと言われた。

（主人は私に）嫌いな食べ物を出した。
（彼は私に）こっち来いと言った。

Thus, the subjects of the two passive sentences are included in the original active sentences as the targets. In fact, 好きな食べ物を出されたら doesn't have a nuance of "adversity". On the other hand, the subject of an indirect passive sentence doesn't appear in the equivalent active sentence.

（私は）子供に泣かれた/子供に泣かれて困った。(There is no 私 in 子供が泣いた.)
（私は）妹にプラモデルを壊された。(There is no 私 in 妹がプラモデルを壊した. Although the interpritation "私のプラモデル" is possible.)

However, I feel the nuance of the passive of adversity from those two sentences, probably because the expressions like 好きな食べ物を出してくれたら, こっち来ればと言ってくれた are commonly used for good things to the subjects.

So in this case it has more to do with the connotation/valency of the words than it does with the grammar, I take it.

I have a question about 嫌いな食べ物を出されたら、どうしますか。お茶やお菓子、食べ物を出されたら・・・ First the speaker asks what the listener would do if someone gave them food they didn't like. Then the next sentence seems kind of strange in juxtaposition. I take it to mean お茶やお菓子という食べ物を出されたら. Is that right? Is it just supposed to be some specific examples of the types of food the speaker doesn't like (not that we'd know)? Or does it have some other meaning? The use of the comma there is strange to me.

I would interprete it お茶やお菓子やそのほかの食べ物 "tea, cakes or other foods". お茶やお菓子 seems like just examples.

OK, that makes more sense. Just throwing the comma out there still feels strange to me, though.

Glenn said:

b) I believe the whole clause 大統領候補として立つ modifies 準備.

Click to expand...

Oh yes, good, that makes more sense to me.

Glenn said:

Then the next sentence seems kind of strange in juxtaposition.

Click to expand...

Sorry, those two sentences are not linked. They are taken from different contexts. I should have made that clear.

Toritoribe said:

Strictly speaking, those are both the direct passive sentences.
（私は主人に）嫌いな食べ物を出された。
（私は彼に）こっち来いと言われた。
（主人は私に）嫌いな食べ物を出した。
（彼は私に）こっち来いと言った。

Click to expand...

私は主人に嫌いな食べ物を出された is a type of sentence pattern that I have difficulty with. I will study your examples again alongside some others that you furnished previously, but I apologise in advance if I get this wrong again in the future!

Incidentally, when I try to type the character below, it appears in the edit window in the expected left-hand form, but when I view the saved post it appears as the right-hand character, which I understand from Wikipedia is an old variant. Does anyone else see this, or is it some weird font glitch on my PC? Is the right-hand form ever used in modern Japanese?

I've seen it too. It's not that big of a deal (to me, anyway). ネ is just 示 reduced a bit (top line becoming a dot, second and third strokes merging). It shouldn't post a barrier to understanding. Well... if you're familiar with it, anyway.

Maybe it doesn't usually get used in that character in Japanese nowadays, but in 祠 (ほこら) and other non-joyo characters it most certainly does.