Normally I have no problem with confusing these grammar points, but these sentences in particular have been giving me trouble. Usually, にしても is "even if A occurs (in the future), B (unexpected or contradictory) will result. The second sentence above involving the hero instead has a past event contrasting a future result, “Even though A happened, B will result”
Okay, fine, but in the ものの sentence, it is also a sentence that uses the structure “Even though A happened, B will result”. In these two specific instances, how is one expected to differentiate between the two? Can にしても work for the top sentence, and can ものの work for the second? Thank you
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In the first sentence I see ものの more as lamentation that things did not go as expected, or that the result didnt meet your expectations. For clarity I would translate it as “Despite trying to …”
I have been interpreting にしても as the fact that things wont go as expected BEFORE you even try them. But when reading a bit closer in the details of the grammar point, it also means “even while (A), (B)”, which matches the sentence to the letter. Maybe its two nuances of にしても in one grammar point, I cant say for sure.
Either way.
If using にしても instead of ものの in the top most sentence, I would read it as
“Even if i try solving the problem, there wont be any significant change”.
Reversly, if using ものの for the hero sentence, I would use it for a sentence as
“Even though the hero died, the (expected outcome) did not happen.”
It usually works for me to think of it like this, usually.
Hope it helps.
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But the sentence says, “工夫してみたものの、結果は大して変わらない。”
The verb before ものの is past-tense, why would it become “even if I try solving the problem” if ものの was changed to にしても?
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Youre right, then it would seem that にしても doesnt work in this sentence, using past tense for the verb.
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Then why is it used with a past tense verb for the second sentence, the one involving the hero?
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This is actually probably just a pretty average English translation tbh. Regardless of whether the verb attached to it is past tense, the して in しても itself is not. This translation is much closer to 'Even if we go off (して) the assumption that (も) the hero did die (死んだ), someone has to save the world.
ものの is very flat sounding much like ‘although’ in English. It’s not as emphatic as ‘even though’ imo, but there are times it can be translated that way.
工夫してみたものの ‘Although I tried working out a solution’
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なるほどな! I completely understand the difference now, though if I come across the hero sentence again I’ll have to think twice. If you had not replied on your own I would have asked for your help, this is why we rely on you!
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