Was reading this article
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10014183861000/k10014183861000.html
on NHK easy and struggling with this sentece.
寄付したときにもらうお礼の品物で人気があるのは、いわき市の近くでとれた魚を干した物などです。
What is the meaning of this お礼の品物で人気があるのは、いわき市の・・・part?
Does it simply mean that “a popupular thank-you gift you (can) get for donating are (among other things) dried fish from near Iwaki City.” ?
Could it be rewritten like this?
寄付したときにもらう、人気なお礼の品物は、いわき市の近くでとれた魚を干した物などです。
3 comments
Wow…I had no idea there was something like NHK Easy. Sorry I’m of no help here but thanks for sharing this I guess.
From my understanding yes, “B is a popular thing used as A” for the current sentence, or more specific “(B) things like dried goods made out of fish caught near Iwaki are used as a (A) popular thank you/return gift (after giving a donation)”
For your rewritten sentence I would think that you still have to write something like “人気があるのお礼な品物は” as な would be used for
na-adjectives or certain nouns other than 人気. That said, I’m sure that I have seen “人気な” somewhere in the wild, just not in a formal context
のは です is what is called cleft construction in English. It serves to emphasize a noun phrase. All other phrases are moved to the front.
Example: 田中さんは北海道で生まれました。(A) can be used to emphasize Tanaka-san, and (B) to emphasize Hokkaido.
（A)北海道で生まれたのは田中さんです。（B)田中さんが生まれたのは北海道です。
Your sentence emphasizes いわき市の近くでとれた魚を干した物など, the “basic” sentence would be: いわき市の近くでとれた魚を干した物などが寄付したときにもらうお礼の品物で人気があります。
Now about the で: one of the functions of it is to denote a range for something, and in 寄付したときにもらうお礼の品物で人気があります it qualifies the statement that the dried fish from Iwaki is popular *among* the goods given in return as gifts (as part of the hometown tax scheme, I presume).
So your re-write would change the meaning a bit.