2級 Grammar 26-30

If you find Japanese grammar confusing and hard to remember, you'll be pleased to see that today's post does wonders to help clear things up by introducing 5 new grammar points with very similar　usages that ALL begin with から. That oughta take care of that.


26) ～からして
even (as in "not even")
on the most basic level...

This construction works well when you want to describe the extreme to degree to which someone does or does NOT do something. You add からして to a noun, and then a verb phrase. My book's example is "ひらがなからして読めない," which means "I can't even read Hiragana." The catch is that you could normally say this with only the particle も、right? So the use of からして necessitates a second clause, which takes the sentence from the basic level to a higher one. ひらがなからして読めない。だから、漢字はぜったいムリだ。

You can also use this without such a rigidly parallel follow-up, like in my example sentence:

Ex: 父はすしからして食べてみようともしない。日本に来ないと思います。

27) ～からすると　･　からすれば
according to
in terms of
judging from
from the point of view of

This one seems straightforward enough, but I'm getting bogged down in it. You attach it to a noun again, and then you have either a reason or an origin for a statement of opinion/judgement that you are about to make. My book gives
"According to the observed temperature, it's not supposed to be so hot, but because the humidity is high, it feels hot."
"By the look of the section chief's expression, I have no doubt that last month's business grade (sic) was not so good."
You can understand the bogging、and why I will model my example sentence CLOSELY after the final book example.

Ex: アメリカ人一般の考え方からすると、私の日本人の知り合いは「ゲイな友達や黒人の友達が欲しい！」と言っているのはしつれいに思われるかもしれない。

28)　～からといって
just because...
even though...
nevertheless

Used to make assertions of what you CAN'T do, just because of something else.
JUST because you're gorgeous, doesn't mean you don't have to pay to get into the club.
Even though you're tired, you can't just go home early.

This is used quite often with　わけではない、とはいえない、限らない、and できない。

Ex 1: 給料が高いからといって、毎日外食するわけではない。
Ex 2: 彼女がいることからといって、彼女だけとデートするとは限らない。

29) ～からには ・　からは
now that
because of
since
so long as

This is highly similar in usage to dakara, or 以上・以上は。

Ex:　彼女がいるからには、もナンパするわけには行かない。(Hmm, quite the opposite of the previous example.)

30)　～から見ると　･　から見れば　・　から見て　・　から見ても
when you look at it like/from
when you consider

This looks really similar to point 27, right? The connotation here, I guess, due to the inclusion of 見る is more of a focus on "seeing" or "looking" in this specific expression.

Ex:　あの選手ふたりの統計からみれば、かなりいい交換とおもわないか？