Saturday, December 22, 2007

 

JLPT Exam Question #4

Today's example question appeared as question 5 in the 2006 三級の読解文法 paper. In essence, this question is a particle test, a subject that constantly confuses me.

いろいろさがした_______見つからないんです。

  1. のに
  2. ので
  3. のを
  4. のが


[
According to the answer booklet, the answer is option 1.

My first thought is to translate this into English to see if that gives any clues. The Jenglish transliteration is [various] [to look for (past)] [_____] [to not be found] and already I have a vague idea of what the answer is. However, pride comes before a fall, so let's check all the options first.

Option 1 is のに, which has a few meanings including despite, in spite of and because. Option 2 is ので which as far as I know simply means because. Option 3 is のを which is the normalizer の followed by the direct object marker. Finally, option 4 is のが - the normalizer followed by the subject marker.

Option 1 is quite promising. Using のに, my translation in English would be Despite [the fact that] I looked a number of times, it isn't to be found.

Substituting option 2 doesn't work nearly as well: Because I looked a number of times, it isn't to be found.

Given that 見つからない in option 3 is the negative form of the intransitive verb 見つかる, I think we can rule out のを (see point 1 of my description of を and you'll see that it's used with direct objects and intransitive verbs don't have direct objects).

Option 4 could be a possibility. Intransitive verbs use the particle が and it's possible that the normalizer would work here. However the sentence doesn't seem to make much sense when translated.
]

またね・・・

Comments:
Hmm, I think it's a kind of mean question...the options are too short and make no sence. Kind of riddle!

Ok, I dare to make some questions...

のに
ので
のを
のが

「デイブ、買い物に行ってきてくれる?」
「OK、いいよ~」
「今日は和食を作るから、お醤油(soy sauce)を買ってくる__忘れないでね。」


仕事が終わったら映画を観に行こうと思っていた__、急に会議が入ってしまった。


今日は天気が良い__、庭の手入れをしよう!


「どの絵が*お気に召しましたか?」
「・・・うーん、どれもすばらしいですね。でも私は、この美しい英国の田舎の風景を描いた__一番気に入りました。」

*お気に召す=like

(^_-)
 
oooh! A tough question! I thought a lot about this as some of your questions 'felt' like they could have different answers... I hope I got it right.

1. のを
2. のに
3. ので
4. のが
 
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