Monday, 29 August 2016

grammar - How does the use of いかんによっては in this question determine one answer over another?


In my JLPT practise book, in a section explaining the use of いかんによっては, which roughly means "depending on", they have the following question:



学生{がくせい}:先生{せんせい}、台風{たいふう}が近{ちか}づいていますね。明日{あした}のゼミは休講{きゅうこう}ですか?


先生{せんせい}:そうですね。台風{たいふう}のコースいかんによっては______



A: 休{やす}みです。 B: 決{き}めましょう。



I chose the answer B, thinking it roughly meant, "We will decide depending on the course of the typhoon."


However, according to the book, the correct answer is A, which is translated as, "depending on the path it might be a holiday." (The English translations in this book are not so smooth.)


Both make logical sense to me, but, despite what the book says, I can't help but feel that B makes more sense because the path of the typhoon is uncertain, and therefor so is the decision about the seminar. Thus, "let's wait and decide."


Why is A the correct answer?



Answer



According to 新完全マスター 文法 N3:



によって:means to change state or behaviour depending on something or according to something. It expresses variety and is often used with さまざまだ and かえる.



によっては:pinpoints one outcome from a range of possible outcomes



For the sentence:


そうですね。 台風{たいふう} のコースいかんによっては_________


A: 休{やす}みです。 B:  決{き}めましょう。


A pinpoints one outcome, B does not.


Note on いかん/いかんによって


I've got to the correct answer using N3 grammar but I should not really ignore いかん. It means "what" or "how" so in the above sentence I would say the expression equates to "depending on what [course]". The impact of adding は to いかんによって is the same as if added によって.


An alternative way to look at this is to consider いかんによって as one expression, equivalent to いかんで, which approximates to "in accordance with/is contingent upon".


The impact of adding は is the same as the difference between いかんで and いかんでは, which is perhaps easier to workout intuitively.



References: 新完全マスター文法N3, 日本語表現文型辞典


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