This is a sample sentence to illustrate もうちょっとで and ところだった from the Japan Times DIJG.

もうちょっとで電車に乗り遅れるところだった
I almost missed my train.

What is もうちょっとで adding here? Is it like saying "Just by a little more… and I almost missed my train."?

EDIT: I think I see it now but please by all means correct me if I am wrong. The problem is that I mistook ところだった for 'almost' when in fact it's something like 'was just about to'.

Just wondering what the difference between 売上 and 売れ行き are. I`m assuming that 売上 refers to sales that have already been made and are definite sales whereas 売れ行き are potential sales that may or may not happen in the future, like a sales projection.

delta Wrote:This is a sample sentence to illustrate もうちょっとで and ところだった from the Japan Times DIJG.

もうちょっとで電車に乗り遅れるところだった
I almost missed my train.

What is もうちょっとで adding here? Is it like saying "Just by a little more… and I almost missed my train."?

EDIT: I think I see it now but please by all means correct me if I am wrong. The problem is that I mistook ところだった for 'almost' when in fact it's something like 'was just about to'.

Is there a difference between 'almost' and 'was just about to'? They seem pretty much the same here.

And yeah, もうちょっとで is just 'with just a little bit more.' In this context: 'If I had been just a little bit later' I would have missed my train.

@Tzadeck
Thanks. Lit. "Just a little bit (later) and I was about to miss the train."

I want to understand the meaning of もし in this sentence もし電話があったら. If もし is an adverb like my dictionary tells me, it should mean something like "supposedly". So perhaps, a more literal translation could be "Supposedly, if there is a phone call…".

delta Wrote:@Tzadeck
Thanks. Lit. "Just a little bit (later) and I was about to miss the train."

I want to understand the meaning of もし in this sentence もし電話があったら. If もし is an adverb like my dictionary tells me, it should mean something like "supposedly". So perhaps, a more literal translation could be "Supposedly, if there is a phone call…".

You shouldn't think of もし as having a meaning on its own. もし pairs with 'if' constructions, in this case the たら, and the sentence means the same thing as if you drop the もし. もし basically points out that a sentence is going to be a conditional right from the beginning (instead of waiting for the verb), which makes things easier for the listener or reader.

Thanks, so I've just read.

There are lot of similar 'words' that pair with conjugations and/or other parts of speech in sentences to mean a single thing, like もし in this case. How are these constructions grammatically categorised/defined?. I don't think there is such a thing in English (though I may be overlooking something) or perhaps something could be said about collocations.

I would like to read more in depth about this from a linguistic/grammatical point of view rather than just accepting that they go/occur together sometimes, but I don't know where to start or how to look for it.

If it helps any, there are a lot of those in Japanese.

まるで pairs with comparison words (みたい, よう)
なぜなら/なぜかというと/どうしてかといえば pairs with explanation words (からだ)
ただ is often used as a pair with だけ
ひたすら often pairs with のみ
たとえ pairs with ても/でも constructions
あるいは often pairs with かもしれない
いやしくも often pairs with からには

When any of these are used together they don't really have independent meanings. They are used together to convey a single concept.

ok this is so simple it's a little embarrassing but i want to fill in a couple gaps.

1) I'm unsure about hearing i-adjectives turned into ku-adverbs, not before a verb but before another adjective.

as I understand, the phrase すごい高いビル means an awesome tall building... in that すごい and 高い both modify the building.

but the phrase すごく高いビル means an awesomely tall building, in that すごく modifies 高い which modifies the building...

is that right? tae kim doesn't deal with this and I haven't seen a good grammar description of what's going on here... but I hear すごく alot, as well as 多く, like in 多くの場合に… which I suppose is another, different use of the adverbially-conjugated i-adjective that I'm unclear on...

while we're at it is there a parallel behavior for na-adjectives? 綺麗に高いビル？as in a building that was beautifully tall...?

２）This is even more embarrassing but anyways... I want to say "I made a lot of friends" and end up saying "多くの人と友達になりました" but I don't think that's right. but maybe it is and i'm wrong.

thoughts?

@dtcamero

1) When you want to string adjectives together, I think you have two options. You can separate them with commas (pauses), or use the -te form:

大きい、甘い、おいしいりんご
大きくて（、）甘くて（、）おいしいりんご

The same goes for na-adjectives

綺麗、高いビル
綺麗で高いビル

I think it's probably more helpful to view 多くの as a word in itself, rather than as a certain grammatical construct applied to 多い. You should also be aware that 多くのX can mean "a large portion of X" rather than just "many X." In fact, I can't say this with complete certainty, but I think the former interpretation might be the more common one.


2) I think you could make that sentence more natural by changing なりました to なれました, but perhaps better ways to express that concept would be たくさんの友達ができた or 友達がいっぱいできた.

ok, thanks that's helpful... but I still don't really understand what's going in re すごく高い...

the big, sweet adjective-stringing that you're talking about is all with regard to the apple... but what about an amazingly sweet apple... I think that's why the sugoi becomes sugoku because it's modifying another adjective... ??

Yes, when it's the -ku form it's just an adjective modifying another adjective. すごく in particular gets used a lot as an all-around intensifier, so すごく高い could at times just mean "really tall" or "extremely tall." Some young people will use すごい in this situation (すごい高い), but most grammar prescriptivists will say it's wrong to use it that way.

An amazingly sweet apple would be すごく甘いりんご.

ok awesome, thanks...

Would a native speaker of English translate it into correct, idiomatic English, please?
わたくし、生まれも育ちも東京葛飾柴又です。帝釈天で産湯を使い、姓は車、名は寅次郎、人呼んでフーテンの寅と発します。
葛飾 Katsushika(ku) - a ward in Tokyo.
柴又 Shibamata - a place in Katsushika
帝釈天 Taishakuten - a temple in Shibamata.

I'll take a shot.

I was born and raised in the Shibamata neighborhood of Tokyo's Katsushika ward, where I was baptized in the Taishakuten temple. My name is Kuruma Torajirou but I have also come to be known as the Vagabond Tiger.

Are the words 博士 and 博士号 used interchangeably? Or else, what's the difference? Not a big deal I guess but it's bothering and couldn't help myself with Google.

Also, can anyone explain the difference between 通路 and 廊下?

「しだいにぼうとかすんでくる一夫の姿に、けんめいに目をこらしながら、和子はたずねた。」

I feel I understand the sentence as a whole. (After Kazuko says a sentence) "Kazuko asked while straining her eyes as Kazuo's figure gradually became hazier." In particular my question is 「しだいにぼうとかすんでくる」. What actually is ぼうとかすんで?

すごい高い and すごく高い are exactly the same but すごい高い is colloquial.

What`s the difference between 体 and 身体, if any at all? Apparently 身体 can be pronounced しんたい and からだ。Is there a difference in meaning between the readings or can they be used interchangeably?

@TheVinster
ぼうとかすんでくる is 「ボーーー　と霞んでくる」the kanji should make it easy to understand.

@callmedodge
体 and 身体 both mean the exact same thing, the nuance is so subtle it's probably not worth thinking about. It's like choosing to say "eye" or "eyeball", the first is general every day use that most people will use, the second seems more medical but they both mean exactly the same thing, just with a different feel. If you go to the doctor for a checkup you then they'll check your 身体（しんたい if you want to be proper） but you wear clothes on your 体. Hopefully that makes sense.

delta Wrote:Are the words 博士 and 博士号 used interchangeably? Or else, what's the difference? Not a big deal I guess but it's bothering and couldn't help myself with Google.

Also, can anyone explain the difference between 通路 and 廊下?

I heard I'm allowed a bump. Maybe, someone knows?

delta Wrote:

delta Wrote:Are the words 博士 and 博士号 used interchangeably? Or else, what's the difference? Not a big deal I guess but it's bothering and couldn't help myself with Google.

Also, can anyone explain the difference between 通路 and 廊下?

I heard I'm allowed a bump. Maybe, someone knows?

I think you could say that 博士 refers to the person with the PhD, and is often used as a title, while 博士号 refers to the title itself.

通路 means passage while 廊下 means corridor, thus I think you could say that 廊下 is a kind of　通路 but it doesn't have to be true the other way around.

Taishi Wrote:通路 means passage while 廊下 means corridor, thus I think you could say that 廊下 is a kind of　通路 but it doesn't have to be true the other way around.

For instance, the aisle in a plane is a 通路, not a 廊下.

@pm215, @Taishi
Thank you.

I have another question. What's the difference between 書いている and 書いてある, I think the first one roughly means that s.o is writing s.t and the second one that s.t has been written (by s.o as opposed to an intransitive action that just occurs. This is clear in this case because 書く is a transitive verb but then why is 書いている correct?). I thought that いる only attaches to intransitive verbs and ある to transitive ones.

delta Wrote:@pm215, @Taishi
Thank you.

I have another question. What's the difference between 書いている and 書いてある, I think the first one roughly means that s.o is writing s.t and the second one that s.t has been written (by s.o as opposed to an intransitive action that just occurs. This is clear in this case because 書く is a transitive verb but then why is 書いている correct?). I thought that いる only attaches to intransitive verbs and ある to transitive ones.

-ている　means you're still doing something, and the action is continuing. It does not only attach to intransitive verbs. (「何してんのよ、あんた？？」「ケーキを食べてますね。」　ー　貧乏神が！、第１話)

ーてある means something has happened, but the resultant state is enduring without any further action. http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/teform

書いてある is pretty common (e.g., [名札に書いてあるだろ]).

Thank you, that makes sense. I think I sorted it out.

Now, if I am allowed to keep going, from Cerego Core 6000 deck.

証券を売って資金にしようと思うの。
I'm thinking of selling some securities and converting them to funds.

But would this be ok too?
"I intend to sell bonds and (by doing so) raise funds / a capital."