294 CHAPTER 6. LANGUAGE PATTERNSin order to counter something that was said or was concluded that might
imply the opposite. A good way to further illustrate this, in the form of a
conversation:A:
B:
A:
...
B:
A:
B:A: ”I heard Ishida got fired.”
B: ”Yeah, he did.”
A: ”If only he’d worked harder...”
B: ”No, that’s not the reason why.”
A: ”Then why?”
B: ”The company has cut back on production so several people were
laid off.”In the third sentence, B literally says ”no, the just-said ( )
is not the reason [for what we’re talking about]”. While in English, both
”that’s not the reason” and ”that’s not it” work (the second foregoing a
”reason”), we’d be left with a somewhat nonsensical line
, ”however, (I) do not say (that)”, if we were to use a sentence without
in Japanese.
In fact, this use of paired with is fairly standard, and
indicates a description of the situational comment. Imagine a situation
where someone is being held accountable for low grades on their language
courses, and they are asked to explain why:
......”(Well,) It’s not particularly because (I) don’t have the brains to learn
languages, but ...well, I just think it’s boring, so I don’t study.”Here, the situational comment is made in regards to the misunder-
standing that exists in it. The situational aspect that is being commented
on is described by as being , and is commented on
by what follows , in this case a simple negation, followed by an explicit
correction of the assumed reason for failing a language course.