Sept. 14, 2025
N4総まとめの復習試験について (off topic)
I'm sorry in advance for publishing it here, for some reason the HiNative doesn't let me publish any questions.
I've been trying the mock JLPT N4 vocab tests from the Sou Matome (総まとめ) vocabulary textbook, and I've stumbled upon the question that asks you to pick the sentence with closest meaning for the following:
かれがべんきょう しているのは、めずらしいことです。
And there were two options I had a trouble choosing from:
かれはあまりべんきょう しません。今日は しています。 - the correct version according to answer keys; and
かれはあまりべんきょう しません。今日もしません。
It seemed to me as though the __のは construction just tells something about the event stated in the __ part, and doesn't necessarily mean that the __ clause happened and in this case it is not that clear whether the clause holds true for today.
Am I wrong in thinking that and is there some nuance on refering to clauses with の? Or is this case really ambiguous? Thank you in advance!
Feedback
That’s because of している. It describes something that’s happening right now, so the sentence talks about a current, unusual event. On the other hand, 彼が勉強するのはめずらしいことです is a general statement and doesn’t mean he’s studying at this moment.
Tne の in のは is a nominalizer, and the は is the topic marker used for the contrast.
Btw, for grammar questions, I think you’ll get faster and more precise answers on the r/LearnJapanese subreddit.
Sept. 14, 2025
I see it now, honestly didn't pay much attention to ている at first as I thought it marked the general state of doing something, instead of the current event. Thank you for the help, and for the r/LearnJapanese recommendations, honestly I just got frustrated trying to make a post on HiNative for far longer than I expected to no avail and posted it here on an impulse, sorry for the off-topic once again!
Sept. 14, 2025
No worries at all! Honestly, advanced learners often know more about grammar than native speakers. I can usually tell when a sentence sounds off, but I don’t always know why it’s grammatically wrong.
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N4総まとめの復習試験について (off topic) |
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I'msorryinadvanceforpublishingithere,forsomereasontheHiNativedoesn'tletmepublishanyquestions. I'vebeentryingthemockJLPTN4vocabtestsfromtheSouMatome(総まとめ)vocabularytextbook,andI'vestumbleduponthequestionthatasksyoutopickthesentencewithclosestmeaningforthefollowing: かれがべんきょうしているのは、めずらしいことです。 |
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AndthereweretwooptionsIhadatroublechoosingfrom: かれはあまりべんきょうしません。 |
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今日はしています。 |
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-thecorrectversionaccordingtoanswerkeys;and かれはあまりべんきょうしません。 |
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今日もしません。 |
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