ようだ
ようだ expresses the likelihood of something or the likeness of something, and in either case, when someone uses ようだ, their statement is based on firsthand, reliable information (usually visual).
Interestingly, though, it can be used in counter-factual situations. The adverb まるで “just” can be used for emphasis.
ようだ is a な-adjective, and the prenominal form is ような and the adverbial form is ように. The colloquial form is みたいだ, which is also a な-adjective. Its uses are exactly the same.
Really useful in-depth explanation of the differences between ようだ and だろう, らしい, and そうだ! There’s also another funky chart in here haha that’s decently helpful, but also a little confusing to parse at first…
Here's an example from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling's show Summer Sun Princess on 2023.07.08 after Kyoraku Kyomei (Hyper Misao and Shoko Nakajima) beat two tag teams, Aja Kong & Raku, and Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku. Misao's bike was a little worse for the wear afterward, though...
Hard mode (also useful for context, though I’ve kept shupro’s non-dialogue description): here’s the video.
荒れた会見場に自転車とともに姿を見せたミサヲと中島。
Misao and Nakajima showed up with the bicycle at the backstage interview location.
ミサヲ「どういうことだ? 何かが起きたようだが、享楽共鳴が勝ったぞ!」
Misao: “What’s that? Something seems to have happened, but Kyoraku Kyomei won!”
中島「勝ったぞー!」
ミサヲ「とんでもない大怪獣映画でしたね」
Misao: “It was an outrageous kaiju movie, wasn’t it?”
中島「そうだ、だが、この試合で三大怪獣のバトルを制したのはこの享楽共鳴だということが世界に証明されたぞ! みんな見とけよ、この後も夏を制するのは中島翔子とハイパー・ミサヲだ。この世界にな、ザ・ビッグ怪獣は中島だってことをこの夏証明してみせる!」
Nakajima: “Yes, but with this match, we proved to the world that in the battle between three big kaiju, it was Kyoraku Kyomei who had the upper hand! Look, everyone: from this point onward, it’ll be Shoko Nakajima and Hyper Misao ruling over summer. I will prove to the world this summer that the Big Kaiju is Nakajima!”
中島&ミサヲ「刮目せよ!」
Nakajima & Misao: “Pay close attention!”
ミサヲ「余談ですが、このハイパミ号、今日の大怪獣戦争でバチボコに変更してしまったので…どうしよう、これ」
Misao: “As a side note, this Hypami Mobile, it got a bit beaten up in the big kaiju battle today… What should we do about it?”
中島「うわー! クラウドファンディングとかしよう、クラウドファンディングとかしよう」
Nakajima: “Wow! Let’s crowdfund for it or something. Let’s do crowdfunding!”
ミサヲ「それか我こそは享楽共鳴のスポンサーになりたいという企業がありましたら、サイバーファイトまでよろしくお願いします」
Misao: “If there’s any company who wants to sponsor Kyoraku Kyomei, please contact CyberFight.”
中島「自転車屋さーん!」
Nakajima: “Hey, bicycle shops!”
Guess what? Misao did in fact crowdfund a new bike!
ように1
Surprisingly short notes section for this! It reminds us that although ように can be used with almost any informal, nonpast verb, it is most commonly used with potential verb forms and negative verb forms.
ように言う “tell someone to do something”, ようになる “reach the point where ~”, and ようにする “try to do ~” are idiomatic uses of ように (which the book has us read about shortly!).
Here's an example from TJPW's show on 2023.12.17, which featured randomly drawn singles matches between the roster members, each with a 7 minute time limit. This was from after Maki Itoh and Hikari Noa's match went to a draw:
Hard mode: here’s the video.
伊藤「どうもこんにちは。1ヵ月半ぶりの伊藤麻希で~す。こんにちは~。無事日本に帰ってきました~。イェーイ。今日はドローだったんですけど…特に何もないです。ドローでした。イッテンヨンは山下りなと闘うので、伊藤はそれを目標に頑張ろうと思っております。打倒・山下りなで頑張ります! アメリカでは一本やられているので、イッテンヨンで伊藤が勝てるように一生懸命頑張りますので。今はそれに集中しておりますので。すいませんね、何も面白いことはないです」
Itoh: “Hi there, it’s Maki Itoh, for the first time in a month and a half! Hello! I made it back to Japan safely. Yay! Today was a draw… it wasn’t anything special. Just a draw. I’ll be facing Rina Yamashita at Ittenyon, so I’ll do my best to achieve that goal. I will do my best to defeat Rina Yamashita! She scored a fall from me in the U.S., so I’ll work as hard as I can so that Ittenyon will be a win for Itoh. That’s what I’m focusing on right now. Sorry, I don’t have anything interesting to say.”
ように2
Here’s the adverbial form of ようだ as mentioned previously! As the notes sum it up, ように1 expresses purpose but ように2 expresses similarity, especially in appearance.
Just like ようだ, ように can express a counterfactual situation, and まるで is often used the same way.
I wasn't sure I was going to give an example for this because I thought I would likely find loads more examples of 1 than 2 when searching, but I got lucky. By a fun coincidence, this example actually comes from the same match as the above example, except this one is from Hikari Noa, the other participant in the match!
Hard mode: here’s the video.
ヒカリ「伊藤さんが海外から帰ってきて一発目の試合。くじ引きではあったんですけど、こうやってシングルで闘えて楽しかったし、嬉しかったなというのもあるんですけど、今日の前説でも発表されたように(タッグ)タイトルマッチが控えていて、今、奈穂さんが舞台で大変な中、こうやって試合をして、そうやって海外での経験をいっぱい積んできた伊藤さんに勝てれば、もっと自信がついたのかなと思うんですけど、海外でレベルアップした伊藤さんに7分ですけどドローで闘えたのは自分の中で大きいのかなと思っていて。このままイッテンヨンまで、あと1試合しかないけど負けなしで、ぐんぐん進んでいけたらなと思います」
Hikari: “This was Itoh-san’s first match after she returned from overseas. Even though it was randomly drawn, it was fun to face her in a singles match like this, and I was happy, but as announced at the start, the (tag) title match is coming up, and with Nao-san working hard on stage right now, having a match like this and potentially beating Itoh-san after she gained so much experience overseas, I think that would’ve given me a confidence boost, but being able to fight Itoh-san to a 7-minute draw after she leveled up even more overseas, that’s huge for me. There’s just one match left before Ittenyon, but I hope I can steadily keep making progress without losing.”
ように言う
I don’t think any of my textbooks covered this one (as far as I can recall, at least), and I can’t find it in any of my TJPW translations, so I’m not sure I’ve seen it before?
I thought it was interesting that it can be used either as an indirect imperative or to mean “say in such a way that ~” i.e. the use of ように. In the former case, the verb must be verb that represents something controllable by human volition. In the latter case, the verb must be a noncontrollable verb.
When it’s used as an indirect imperative, 言う can be replaced by other verbs, which means I suppose I could have seen examples of this in TJPW that aren’t coming up when I search for it haha because they might’ve used other verbs!
ようになる
This one has definitely come up before in at least one previous entry, haha. I thought the notes were helpful! Even though ようになる usually indicates a gradual change, when it is preceded by an affirmative verb, the change may not take place gradually. But if it’s a negative verb and the change is not gradual, なくなる is used in place of ないようになる.
ようになっている emphasizes a current state that has come about after a long process.
There are two ways to negate it, but they mean entirely different things, which is good to keep in mind, haha.
I think I talked about this in an earlier update, but I’m going to talk about it again because I feel like it’s easy to confuse these expressions: ことになる “it has been decided that ~” and ようになる are related expressions in that both of them indicate some change, but they differ in that the former implies a passive decision, while the latter suggests a change brought about by a long process.
Here's an example from TJPW's 10th anniversary show on 2023.12.01, after Free WiFi (Hikari Noa and Nao Kakuta) defended the tag titles against Max The Impaler and Pom Harajuku:
Hard mode: here’s the video.
角田「負けたくなくて…絶対に手放したくなくて。でも、今日のヒカリちゃんがカッコよすぎて、私はこの子の喝があればいくらでも勝てると思いました。ありがとう」
Kakuta: “I didn’t want to lose… I never want to let go of them. But Hikari-chan was so cool today, I thought with her encouragement, I could win anything. Thank you.”
ヒカリ「今回のタイトルマッチに向けた前哨戦は1回しかできなくて。ホント、試合のギリギリまで怖いって思ってて…そういう時に引っ張れるパートナーでありたいなって思ったし。怖い存在とか怖いものは1人で抱えないで、2人でどんどんぶち壊していきたいなって思ったし。今日もね、奈穂さんが守ってくれたこのベルトの価値がすごい大きくなったなって思うので、もう誰が来ても怖くないなって思いました。次こそは『ふりーWiFiがいい』って言って挑戦してほしいし、もうちょっとでアメリカも控えてるので。ベルトをもっとふりーWiFiでアピールしていきたいなと思います」
Hikari: “We only had one preview for this title match. Really, I was scared up until the very last minute of the match… I wanted to be the kind of partner who could lead the way in that kind of situation. Scary creatures and scary things that you can’t bear on your own, I want the two of us to break them down one by one. Today, I think the value of these belts, which Nao-san protected for us, has grown so much that I’m no longer afraid of anyone who steps forward to challenge us for them. So the next time I want someone to challenge us by saying, 'I want Free WiFi.’ We’ll be in America too for a bit. I want to show off the belts even more as Free WiFi.”
角田「東京女子のふりーWiFiを海外でもアピールしていきたいと思います」
Kakuta: “I want to show off TJPW’s Free WiFi overseas, too.”
ヒカリ「ワールドワイドだからね、WiFiは。あと、奈穂さん電波見えるようになったって」
Hikari: “WiFi is worldwide. Also, Nao-san, I heard that you’re able to see the radio signal.”
角田「なりました。ちょっと昨日の会見でマックスの周りに飛んでる電波がよくないなって思ってたので。いい可視化だね」
Kakuta: “I can now. I thought the radio waves that were floating around Max at yesterday’s press conference weren’t good. I have a clear picture of it.”
ようにする
I think this was also covered months back, but ようにしている expresses someone’s habitual act of making sure the speaker or someone else will do (or will not do) something.
The subjects in the ように clause and the main clause can be different.
Just like the previous entry, there are two ways to negate this, and they each have a different meaning.
Interestingly, the related expressions note here describes ようになる as the intransitive counterpart of ようにする. The former only indirectly implies human efforts behind some change that will occur or has occurred, but the latter straightforwardly indicates human efforts. I thought their examples for this were really great!
I found an example in TJPW of one of the negations! This is from the 2023.07.03 press conference before Summer Sun Princess on 7.08, where Miyu Yamashita faced Sawyer Wreck:
Here’s the full transcript and the video, though I’m not going to timestamp the part below, sorry (it’s at the end though).
――大田区総合体育館という広い会場で場外カウントなしというルールの中で、大田区総合体育館をこう使いたいというイメージはある?
――“Considering the no-count-out rule in a large venue like the Ota City General Gymnasium, do you have an idea in mind of how you want to use the space?”
山下「自分が場外を使うっていうのはないですね。私は基本的にはリングの中で闘いたい人間なので、あんまりないですけど、大田区たしかに広いですね。それをソーヤーに逆にうまく使われると自分もちょっと危なくなるのかなとは思いますけど、それはそれでワクワクするので。楽しみになりました」
Yamashita: “I don’t see myself using the outside of the ring. I’m fundamentally someone who wants to fight inside the ring, so I don’t really see myself doing it, but the venue is certainly large. So if Sawyer puts it to good use against me, I think I might be in a bit of danger, but that’s what’s exciting. I’m looking forward to it.”
――逆に場外を使わせないことが勝利への近道になる?
――“On the other hand, if you don’t let her use the outside of the ring, will that be a quick path to victory?”
山下「そうですね。外に出さないようにするところもカギになるんじゃないかな。外に出てしまえばあっちの方が上回ってくる部分もあると思うので。外に出さないことも考えたいと思います」
Yamashita: “Yes. I think the key is preventing her from going to the outside. If we end up on the outside, some of her strengths will be amplified. So I intend on not letting the match go outside the ring.”
より1
Not a whole lot in this entry! より can be preceded by either a noun phrase or a sentence, and when verbs precede it, they are usually nonpast.
Note 2 says that in the first three key sentences, も is optional after より and does not change the meaning of the sentence. I was going to say that I don’t think I can remember seeing よりも anywhere, but a quick search for it turned up plenty of examples in TJPW, haha, so that serves me right!
Here's an example from Nao Kakuta and Hikari Noa's match at the TJPW show on 2023.10.21:
Hard mode: here’s the video.
ヒカリ「タッグのベルトを取ってから、もう3試合やってきて。なんか、タイトルマッチをやった時よりも奈穂さんと電波が通じ合うことが多くなったなって。前まですれ違ってたわけじゃないけど」
Hikari: “Since winning the tag belts, we’ve done three matches already. I feel like Nao-san and I are on the same radio wavelength even more so than when we had the title match. Not that our signal was missing each other before, though.”
角田「タッグワークがよくなってきたね」
Kakuta: “Our tag teamwork is getting better.”
ヒカリ「だし、ここまで3試合ずっとWiFiでやってきたからこそ、タイトル当日まで一緒に闘えないもかちゃん、じゅりあちゃんには負けられないなって」
Hikari: “And because we’ve done all three matches as a team, we can’t lose to Moka-chan and Juria-chan, who won’t be able to fight together until the day of the title match.”
Hahaha, that’s a bit of a bold claim for an example sentence in a dictionary!
I don’t agree with it overall, but I do think kanji are more interesting than the Latin alphabet, though! I have frequently found myself wishing that Spanish had kanji, because paradoxically I think I’d have an easier time memorizing new vocab words that way .
より2
I don’t recall having encountered this use before?
The notes tell us that the use of より as a marker indicating a set point in terms of location can be extended to more abstract locations.
In the related expressions, から can be used in place of より2 when から indicates a set point in space, but when より indicates a point in time, から can replace it only if it indicates a starting time. より2 also implies a comparison of two things, while から has no such implication.
No example for this one because I’ll mostly just be wading through examples of より1!
ようと思う
The main thing to remember when using this, I think, is what note 1 says, which is that when the subject is not the first person, the nonpast form of 思う can’t be used because 思う represents an internal feeling of the speaker alone. So when the subject is the third person, 思う has to be replaced by the stative 思っている which means “he ( = the third person subject) has indicated that he feels ~, in such a way that the speaker can see and/or hear what he feels”. ようと思う also can’t be used as a question.
The negative version of ようと思う is Vinf・nonpast ~まいと思う.
The verb that precedes よう must be a verb that represents something controllable by human volition. A passive verb can be used with ようと思う if the speaker perceives the passive situation as somehow controllable.
I found a couple examples in the paragraph which follows the last example I gave just above! Here we go:
角田「前哨戦で1回もじゅりあちゃんとは会えてないけど、1人で頑張ってるもかちゃんの姿は見てて。ホントに取ったばっかりで負けられないので、この3試合で積み重ねてきている分、もちろんこっちの方が有利だなと思ってるので。もう来週、この勢いで勝っていこうと思います。で、この後は私たちは仙台なので牛タンを食べに行って、さらにプライベートでも仲を深めていこうと思いまーす」
Kakuta: “I haven’t seen Juria-chan even once in the preview matches, but I have seen Moka-chan working hard on her own. We really can’t lose right after winning the belt, so especially considering the fact that we’ve been gaining a ton of experience in these three matches, I think we definitely have the advantage. We’re going to win with this momentum next week. And after this, since we’re in Sendai, we’re going to go eat beef tongue, and then we’ll deepen our relationship in private, too.”
ヒカリ「牛タンいこ、牛タン!」
Hikari: “Beef tongue, let’s go get beef tongue!”
ずつ
A nice short entry to wrap up the main portion of the book!
It was news to me that ずつ is apparently a particle, haha! It is used only after a quantifier. A sentence without ずつ can express virtually the same fact. A sentence with ずつ focuses on equal distribution of quantity, but a sentence without ずつ doesn’t.
Here are a couple examples from the TJPW show on 2023.08.12, where Yuki Arai faced Miyu Yamashita in the finals of the Tokyo Princess Cup:
Hard mode: here’s the video.
荒井「山下さんに勝てなかった…。ものすごく悔しくて…1年半前に名古屋でシングルでやらせてもらった時とは肩を上げられなかった時の気持ちが全然違くて。でも、それが成長できたってことなのかなと思いました。やっぱり山下さんはものすごく強くて、もっともっと自分も強くなりたいって思いました。でも自分に期待してくれた人が自分の想像以上にいたので、それはすごい嬉しかったし、また次があるんだったら次は勝ちたいなって思います。(一昨年、昨年とひとつずつステップアップしてきました)そうですね。1年ごとに一個ずつ上にきて、今年はベスト4に入ることができて。すっごい自分でも実感が湧かないうちにここまで来れていて…もちろん来年は今年より上を目指したいっていうのがあるし、試合としてももっと荒井成長したじゃんって思ってもらえるようになりたいなって思いました」
Arai: “I couldn’t beat Yamashita-san… I’m so frustrated… When I couldn’t lift my shoulders, it felt totally different from the end of that singles match in Nagoya a year and a half ago. I thought I’d grown. But Yamashita-san was so strong, and I want to become even stronger myself. There were so many people who had high expectations from me, more than I imagined, so that made me really happy, and if we get another match, I want to win the next one.”
(Last year and the year before last, each time you’ve moved one step up)
“Yes, I’ve gone up a step each year, and this year I made it into the top four. While I wasn’t even realizing it was happening, I’ve come this far… Of course, next year I want to aim even higher than this year, and I want to make people think that I have also grown in terms of my matches.”
And with that, I’m finally done with the main entries!!