as if
as if it were about to
about to
Structure
- Verb[
ない] + ん + ばかり + に- Verb[
ない] + ん + ばかり + の + Noun
Should this be Verb[ない ] + ん + ばかり + に instead? All of the example sentences only use the ない-stem without ない.
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I found this reference on p. 374 of Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar, instead of Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar as stated in the readings section.
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私は胸が張り裂けんばかりの気持ちになって、その場から動くことができなくなった。 Here the furigana says うで instead of むね
I might be missing something, but I feel like something should be done regarding these “Structure” explanations for grammar points like this one. Like, okay, here’s what it says on here:
so it’s に unless it’s a noun afterwards in which case it’s の, makes sense. But then I look at the examples and
口 is a noun, but there’s に there instead of の.
体 is a noun, but there’s に there instead of の.
犬 is a noun, but there’s に there instead of の.
冷たい isn’t a noun, but there’s の instead of に .
I’m pretty sure I’m missing something here 'cause based off what it says on “Structure,” all these should be the opposite of what they are. I don’t know Japanese. The people who put this together do. So again, I’m sure I’m wrong. I’m sure I’m missing something. It’s just that if I look at the “Structure” section, I’d have no clue what I’m missing. And there are a few other grammar points that have this issue as well.
I want to say it’s more about what is being modified rather than what type of word comes after the grammar point, but if that’s the case, why not change the “Structure” area to reflect that?
I would really appreciate some more clarity on this 'cause it’s not just this grammar point where I’m having an issue. There are several others like this one.
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You can consider the use with に as adverbial (modifying the verb, basically modifying the entire phrase that follows) and the use with の as adnonimal (modifying the noun or noun phrase that directly follows). This is probably the same distinction you’ve noticed with other similar structure sections as well. Let me know if that still doesn’t make sense.
We’ve been discussing internally how we can improve the structure sections on all grammar points in the future, so this feedback is quite helpful, thank you. Perhaps here we could add “phrase” or “verb phrase” after に to try and make it clearer? We’re very much open to feedback on this at that moment so let us know if you had anything more specific in mind or reasons you find the current version confusing and we’ll discuss it at the very least. Thank you!
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This is maybe where I’m starting to get it…? Though I think it should have some change made in the “Structure” section. If I’m understanding it correctly, something like
what’s actually being modified here isn’t 口, but rather the whole phrase 口をギュッと閉じている, so に would be used instead of の, is that right?
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Yes, that’s exactly it.
To give an example with one of the noun phrases you raised: In 興味ないと言わんばかりの冷たい視線, 冷たい視線 is a noun phrase (the entire thing can be treated as a single noun) which is being described by 興味ないと言わんばかりの. You can cut 冷たい from it and it may help you see this more clearly.
I’ll make a note of this. This isn’t specific to this grammar point as there are various points which can be used with nouns phrases and verb phrases. We’ll have a think if there is something we can do to make things easier to understand.
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