What is the nuance of using a single verb in たり form versus the verb directly. For example, in a manga I’m reading I saw the following sentence:
彼ならパニックになったりしないだろうし
Why not just:
彼ならパニックにならないだろうし
Is the only difference that the first sentence implies that there are reasons other than パニックにならない?
That’s right, it points that there are other, not listed sentences. Grammar points like とか、たり、など、でも、なんて、し are used to make sentence less direct.
So if there is someone you like and you want to ask if they are free, instead of asking 彼女がいるの? You can say 彼女とかがいるの?
Also, が、けどcan be used for refusing if we don’t want to state reason directly like 旅行に行きたいけど(お金がない)。The part in brackets is not said aloud.
Also, grammar points like てしまう has similar use, for example someone dies and instead of simply stating ポチが死んだ。(pochi is typical dog name)、you can say ポチが死んじゃった。meaning ポチ is dead but you didn’t wish for that.