Some questions I missed...

Elizabeth said:

The lamp fell and broke (or, is broken) = Sutando ga taerete kowareta. It wasn't pushed it simply fell. Maybe it was placed along an edge.

The paper bag got wet and broke/tore. = Kami-bukuro ga nurete yabureta. Maybe it was left in the gutter to rot.

The eggshell broke and a chick came out. Tamago ga warete ....

The rope/guitar string broke in the middle. Tsuna/Gen wa mannaka de kireta. Any bright ideas for this phenomenon?

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Glenn said:

Yeah, those are all intransitive verbs, right? So they take no object. Those are all just like "mado ga aku" versus "mado o akeru." Here is a rather lenghty message on transitive versus intransitive verbs, if you are interested.

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PaulTB said:

That doesn't actually answer the implied question:

In the (exception) where present non-negative verb is used before 'hou ga ii' what is the significance and/or where should it be used?

If I recall correctly I seem to remember hearing that such is used for emphasis, but I may be wrong.

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The meaning of Vinf nonpast hou ga ii is almost the same as that of Vinf past hou ga ii if it is used in situations of suggestion. However, Vinf past hou ga ii may express a stronger suggestion than Vinf nonpast hou ga ii. For instance, in the following paragraph, Vinf past hou ga ii is more appropriate:

窶堋ｨ窶楼ﾂ、窶堋ｱ窶堙娯?堋ｲ窶堙ｫ窶独停?禿ｲ窶堙ｰ窶堙｢窶堙≫?堙??堙ｩ窶堋ｻ窶堋､窶堋ｾ窶堙按。窶堋ｻ窶堙ｱ窶堙遺?堙?窶堙固ｽ~窶堙溪?堋ｽ/ﾂ？ﾂ？ﾅｽ~窶堙溪?堙ｩ窶堙吮?堋､窶堋ｪ窶堋｢窶堋｢窶堋ｺﾂ。

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