Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (January 14, 2023)

3 comments

1. What does も mean in the sentences below? Why is it used? I believe it has the same meaning in both of them.

   声を上げて笑う苺さん。バスキア教諭に注意を受ける**も**頓狂な返しでクラス皆の笑いを誘った。(translation: Ichigo-san laughs loudly. when Sister Basquiat gives her a warning, she produces a deranged response, inviting laughter from the class)

   冗談だと聞いた立花さんは大きく口を開きかける**も**……握りしめているショーツを一瞥し、そそくさとベッドへと戻った。(translation: Hearing that it was a joke, Hanabishi-san starts to open her mouth wide, but she takes one look at the panties she was still clutching.. and quickly goes back to bed

2. I’m doing a pen pal correspondence with a JP native and they want me to correct their grammar. How would you go about this without simply rewriting all their sentences? I don’t think about grammar rules, it just comes naturally. Yet there’s often tells that give away that someone is an ESL, almost like an instant intuition, even if a sentence is technically correct. It’s not something that can be conveyed, and I don’t know how to help this JP native learn grammar when I don’t even know “proper” grammar.

3. Was wondering about this use of だとは

   このかっこうなら、誰も私だとは気づかないでしょうね。

   Context: A woman doesn’t want people to recognize her so she puts on a mask. I believe this says something like, “With this shape (her masked face), no one will notice it’s me.”

   But anyway I don’t usually see だと before は, so I was wondering if someone could elaborate on that.