2級 Grammar 66-70

So, it looks like The Daily Yoji might have to take another hiatus of sorts in the near future. While Brett will still be at the keyboard, I'm getting ready to go back to America for about three months, and since I'm doing that, I'm planning on taking one last big trip to close out my first two years in Japan. I'll be hitchhiking from Saga to Tokyo and stopping along the way to visit some of the places that I haven't yet had the chance to check out. I hope to still be able to make some kind of Daily Yoji Travelogue posts while I'm on the road, but... oh hey, lemme just tell you about it in 2級 grammar forms!

66)　～ついでに
~ while doing

Yes, there are many, many, many ways of saying "while doing" in Japanese. There are two in this post. Make sure you understand the nuances of each one. ～つでに's nuance is "While you're at it." You use it to say, things like "I wanted to go to 7-11 to pick up some beer, so I figured, while I was at it, I'd pay for my plane ticket = 7-11でビールを買いに行ったついでに、便の切符も買いました。" The part that takes ついでに is your main action, and the part that follows is just... what you did, while you were at it.

For those of you who aren't in Japan, this sentence might require the knowledge that you can pay for pretty much ANTYHING at 7-11, including plane tickets.

Ex. 最後の日本の旅行のついでに、車に乗せてもらっている間にその人の好きな四字熟語をたずねようと思っています。

67) ～っけ
~(what) was it?
～かな。
～か。

Odds are good that you've heard and used this one a number of times. I know I have, but I never expected to see it in a grammar book. It's purely a convention of speech, and I figured it was something similar to "ain't" in English. But while the book acknowledges that it is only for spoken use, it still wants us studying it. Stick this on the end of anything you're asking to reflect your own uncertainty, or use it as a conversation filler when you're trying to remember something. The most common usage you'll hear is just this: 「何だっけ？」

Ex. ぜんぜん習っていない四字熟語を言われたら、ただ意味を忘れている振りをします。「あ、そうですか。それはいい言葉ですようね。でも、どういう意味だったっけ？」

68) ～っこない
~ no way that
~ no chance of

Pretty straight forward, but usually reserved for big things like "hitting the lottery" or "winning the nobel prize. Can be 丁寧ed up by conjugating the ない to ありません.

I'm gonna TRY to use it like THIS:

Ex. どこに泊まるかぜんぜん決めていないので、毎日｢日刊四字」にポストを載せることができっこないです。

69) ～つつある
~to be in the process of (do)ing

This is another 改まった表現, used in more formal or ceremonial speech. With that being said, pretend that I usually talk to you guys very formally in my example sentences.

Ex. 以前、富士山に登りたかったが、何回も｢汚くて、行く価値がない」と言われたことで行くことをあきらめました。しかしながら、現在、富士山再生キャンペーンが行われ、きれいになりつつあるので、また行きたくなりました。

70) ～つつ(1)
~ while doing

As mentioned above, here's another way to say "while doing," this one is used just like ながら, but ながら is more friendly and informal, more common in everyday speech. つつ would be better in writing or when presenting to a group of people or giving a speech (I remember using it in my Habitat Fundraising speech at the cooking class we did.)

Ex. そして、四字熟語を集めつつ、日本の名所を見物します。