Monday, December 17, 2007

 

JLPT Exam Question #2



Today’s example comes from the 2004 三級 paper (question 28 in the 読解文法 section) and is, in essence, a conjugation test. Hopefully none of the vocabulary presents a challenge; other than the use of hiragana for words that would be easily recognizable if in kanji.

図書館でこの町のれきしを＿＿＿＿ことができます

1. しらべた
2. しらべられる
3. しらべる
4. しらべて


Have a go and once you're happy you can see the answer and my reasoning below by clicking and dragging you mouse between the brackets.

[
The answer is option 3.

Each of the 4 possible answers have the same root verb and so this is simply a case of knowing the verb form that goes before ことができる.

Option (1) is the plain past, option (2) could be either the potential or the passive (depending on context), option (3) the plain non-past and option (4) is the て form. I think it’s pretty safe to rule out option (4) immediately as I can’t think of any て conjugation where て is followed by a nominalizer. Nominalizers are used to convert a verb clause into nouns, whereas て conjugations are used to modify the way in which the verb’s result is performed or perceived.

Option (2) is a safe one to rule out as well, in either of it’s meanings. If we take られる to be the potential form, then we have a tautological sentence, effectively mentioning the ability to do something twice. If we take られる to be the passive, then we have a sentence that does not make sense. In passive sentences, the subject is an unwilling recipient of some action, which doesn’t really fit with the use of できる.

That leaves options (1) and (3), both of which are plausible. If I did not know that ことができる comes after the plain non-past (or base 3) form of a verb, I’d have to make a guess based on the English translation. With option (1) we get “You could study this town’s history at the library” which doesn’t seem right. Option (3) would give us “You can study this town’s history at the library”, which just feels better.

So, even if you do not know the correct verb form to use with ことができる, it would be possible to correctly guess this one by looking at the English translation.

つまり、（３）は正しい答えです。
]

# posted by Dave Hoggan @ 11:32 am
Comments:
1.しらべた
2.しらべられる
3.しらべる
4.しらべて


ロンドンにある日本料理のお店をインターネットで＿＿＿＿みよう！

辞書を引いて＿＿＿＿のは時間がかかりますが、外国語の勉強には大切なことです。

ガイドブックを＿＿＿＿ら、行きたい観光名所(sightseeing spot)がたくさん見つかりました。

＿＿＿＿資料は全部しらべて、完ぺきな報告書を作成した。


(^_^)
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 3:24 pm
 
ロンドンにある日本料理のお店をインターネットでしらべてみよう！

辞書を引いてしらべてのは時間がかかりますが、外国語の勉強には大切なことです。

ガイドブックをしらべたら、行きたい観光名所がたくさん見つかりました。

しらべられる資料は全部しらべて、完ぺきな報告書を作成した。

Example 4 was a problem! But I think it translates as "I checked up on all the materials that can be checked and prepared a perfect report."
# posted by Blogger Dave Hoggan : 3:45 pm
 
おしい！Almost!

辞書を引いてしらべるのは時間がかかりますが、外国語の勉強には大切なことです。

is the answer. (^.^)

I tried to translate, but...?
"Even though it takes time to look up in a dictionary, that is important to learn a foreign language."
...あってる？hmm, more natural transration, please!

Example 4 is correct and the translation is perfect!

またね～(^o^)/"
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 3:02 pm
 
Hmmpf! I can't believe I got that one wrong! I hope I didn't make that kind of mistake in the exam!

As for あってる, did I use this??

Dave
# posted by Blogger Dave Hoggan : 3:08 pm
 
>As for あってる, did I use this??

...ah, nope! *I* asked you,
"私の英訳はあってますか？"
="Is my translation correct?"

...ooops! translation, not transration...
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 3:22 pm
 
あってる？

そうだ。 合う = to be correct... はい、翻訳は完璧だ。

ごめん。今日僕はちょっとにぶいだよ！
# posted by Blogger Dave Hoggan : 3:38 pm
 
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