Inspired by [this thread] (https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/17wnl69/grammar_points_that_are_japaneselike_to_you/), it’s got me thinking. Most of the time I understand what’s intended or can even guess which verb is supposed to follow (seems to be implying 〜ましょう most of the time？), but sometimes it really trips me up.
1) is there a name or some way to refer to this so that I can Google and read more about it?
2) obviously you can’t just randomly leave the verb off just any sentence, so are there some sort of rules to when you can use this and when you can’t?
3) Do Japanese have an unsaid verb in mind when they write these types of things? Likewise, do readers also finish the sentence in their heads when they read these?
4) anything else I should know?
5) got any fun pictures or examples we can puzzle through together? For example, I’ve seen [a poster like this] (https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTKBxL8QyETp565n8ZqSSmoisQKxE4i5JoAxw&usqp=CAU) before and I’m really at a loss for which verb should follow
2 comments
https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/particle-wo/
Tofugu explains it pretty well about the how and why it’s at the end
Interesting that you bring this up, because it never really struck me as weird or unintuitive, but to try to answer your questions:
1. I’m not sure this sort of structure has a specific “name” — it’s just one variant on an incomplete sentence where part is left unsaid to be more indirect (and leave part of the interpretation open to the reader) while still conveying a fundamental meaning.
2. You can do it when you’re trying to convey something in a stylistic manner like this and the fundamental meaning is being conveyed.
3. In most cases, yes, the author would have one or a possible verbs in mind. In your example, 花を咲かせましょう／咲かせよう is the most “obvious” choice for an implied verb.
TL;DR answer is that even without an explicitly stated verb, the を implies/suggests the sort of verb or phrase that would follow.
We do similar things in English too with stylistic phrasings. Like think of a phrase like “To each their own”. …To each their own *what*? What is the implied noun, and what action are we performing on it?
We don’t specifically need to answer these questions for the sentence to have meaning, because the words and grammar imply potential interpretations that would stimulate a native speaker’s imagination/interpretation. It’s basically the same phenomenon happening in Japanese here.