1級 Grammar 6-10

ADMINISTRATORS' NOTE:
We're doing our best to prepare for, and hopefully, to help you prepare for the 日本語能力試験１級, but please remember: 1級, by its very nature, consists of grammar that is difficult, highly nuanced, and most of the time, rarely used in regular conversations. That's why it's important that you use our posts as references, to be compared with other study sources. Before you leave a comment, please check the message posted here.

Thanks, and 頑張って！

1級 Grammar 6-10:

6.　～かぎりだ
Very ~
Extremely ~
とても～
非常に～だ　と感じる

Well, well, well, かぎり... we meet again. This time, though, we find it in probably its simplest form yet - tack it onto an い-type adjective (one that describes your emotions), and voila! While it's not a very common usage, it is very easy to use. There's nothing else to it.

Ex.　彼のお嫁さんはモデルとして、大成功して、お金持ちになりました。羨ましい限りです。

7.　～が最後...
If A happens, then B will definitely happen.

Even though you're literally saying "A is last," A actually starts things off in this chain of events. And once A's gotten rolling, B can't be stopped... and B is going to be something bad. While degrees of "badness" are relative (this expression works for "Once he starts talking about movies, he won't stop," as well as "Once I push this button, the lethal injection procedure will commence."), it's generally used for special emphasis. It gets tacked onto a verb in the past tense.

Ex.　ダイエットしつつ、彼女は我慢強くなってきましたが、甘いものを食べだしたが最後、一日中食べ続けるから、最初から食べさせないほうがいい。

8.　～かたがた
while in the process of ~,
～のついでに

A very formal phrase used in letter writing or the most formal greetings. It's not that hard to understand in terms of usage, but everywhere you see it, it's bound to be surrounded by 敬語:　御 honorifics, like　お世話、 ご相談、お礼、お詫び、and formal verbs like 伺う、参る、and 致す。　We're going to post book examples on this one, because, well... I'm not capable of coming up with one that's as good as the book's on my own. :(

かたがた follows a noun.

Ex.　先日はたいへん失礼いたしました。今日はお詫びかたがたご相談に伺いました。
Ex.　この度はたいへんお世話になりました。来週にでもお礼かたがたご報告ぶまいります。

9.　～かたわら...
doing ... in addition to ~
doing ... while doing ~
～しながら

Whatever you list first is the main activity, and the second part is...secondary. But in spite of that, BOTH things are done continuously - ie jobs, volunteering, studying, etc. You would not use this phrase to say "I bought some ice cream while walking around the park."

Use with a verb in the dictionary form, or with a noun and の, like so:

Ex.　日本で就職のかたわら、日本語を勉強しています。

10.　～がてら
While A, B.
When A, B.

One of many expressions that can be essentially boiled down to しながら, but here's are the elements that set this apart:

• ～がてら is used for trivial things that are over and done with quickly, so it's the perfect choice for buying ice cream while walking around the park. You wouldn't use it for anything big or permanent.
  
• It's used when the situation in A presents the opportunity for B, like watching a movie with subtitles is a chance to learn some new vocab, or going for a jog is a chance to remember the way to the post office...
• Most of the time, A involves moving around: coming or going.

Ex.　今朝、会社に通いがてら、携帯でお母さんに誕生日のメールを入れました。

There's 5 more down. See you next time.