おはようございます！
I have a question about the differences between the grammar in the title of this post. I’m trying to find the difference between the three grammar usages. I’ve tried rephrasing a sentence in different ways, and I want to make sure I’m understanding the connotation of each one based on the usages. If any of these are grammatically incorrect or I’m misunderstanding the meaning, please let me know! I want to master the difference between the three.
My understanding goes as follows for the following examples:
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>その女の子は泣く**だけ**でした。
>
>That girl could only cry. (It’s all she could do in the given situation).
>
>その女の子は**ただ**泣きました。
>
>That girl merely cried. (It’s nothing special, she often does/it’s to be expected).
>
>その女の子は**ただ**泣く**だけ**でした。
>
>That girl just cried. (It’s all she could do, but it’s nothing special because she often does/it’s to be expected).
Basically what I’m understanding is that using ただ〜だけ merges the initial two meanings together, though I’m not sure if my interpretations are accurate. But this is just one set of examples, so I’m trying to figure out the difference of the connotations in different contexts as well. If there are any other examples anyone provide of the difference between between the three, I’d really appreciate it!
どうもありがとうございます！
2 comments
i’ve never heard this as an explicit pattern. it’s just two separate, similar sentence patterns being used at the same time, afaict
Was just watching Keroro and the use of ただ was like in “It’s only a (regular) spoon” instead of だけ which would have been literal. The use of ただ was more to specifically focus on it being regular (as in merely) compared to a spoon that turns the user gigantic. The use of one versus the other has its own implications and context should make it clear which to use.