Verb(Dictionary form) + に

[Charles Barkley]

Lately I have been coming across a lot of grammar points that involve taking the dictionary form of a verb and adding に____ after it. When I first started encountering these types of grammar points, I found them quite weird, as they didn't seem to fit the (plain form verb + noun) or (nominalized noun (ie Vること）に) forms that I had seen earlier. Examples of what I am talking about in case it isn't clear are as follows:

体に障害があるにもかかわらず。。。

結婚するに当たり。。。

なんか悪いことをしているに違いない。。。 etc.


What exactly is happening in these sentences? Why is no nominalization necessary before the ni? Are there any elements that bind all of these grammar points together? Any information about them would be very helpful.

 

[dark_secrester]

It seems like no one will give an answer.
I myself don't know, so I suggest searching it on Google such as:
verb + に japanese

this should give you some help.

Later,
Joe

 

[ajmd20]

I believe that there would be a の in there, it's just being omitted.

It's perfectly possible to say these phrases with the の there, but with set phrases like に違いない, I'm not sure why, but it is usual to omit this の.

In older writing it was much more common to omit this nominalising の so that is where it may originate.

 

[JimmySeal]

Verbs can sometimes act as their own nominalizers. This is especially true when set phrases are involved. I don't think that there's any rule to learn, just that にもかかわらず and にちがいない follow the plain form.

 

[Elizabeth]

Not being extremely sure of these patterns (and if there was one) either, I asked a friend. So for what it's worth, here is at least one person's opinion. Hopefully some others will join in with their thoughts eventually.


体に障害がある（の）にもかかわらず。。。
→どちらも同じニュアンス

結婚する（の）に当たり。。。
→「の」はないほうが、なめらかな感じがします。

なんか悪いことをしている（の）に違いない
→どちらも同じニュアンス


自分で、一日見物する(の)には、どんな仕方がいちばんいいですか？
→「の」はないほうが、なめらかな感じがします。

 

[Charles Barkley]

I appreciate the help. I'm glad to know its more a matter of style than some whole new grammatical monster that I didn't even know existed.

 

[Elizabeth]

One more thing to keep in mind : Normally substituting only Vるに～～ for のに to me sounds somehow not right. A way of speaking if I heard I would think it should be には。 And as a "rule of thumb" also seemed to be confirmed by these responses.


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