Before I ask the wanikani bosses, I want to get your opinion on this sentence:
シェイクスピアを原作で読んだことはありますか？
Have you read Shakespeare’s original works?
Should that be の instead of を?
原作 = original work
No, it should be を. If it were の, the correct sentence would be:
シェイクスピアの原作を読むんだことはありますか？
Which would mean “Have you read Shakespeare’s original version?”, presumably in a conversation about… a movie based on The Tempest or something. However, the example sentence is:
シェイクスピアを原作で読むんだことはありますか？
Which equates to “Have you read Shakespeare in the original versions?” The を marks Shakespeare as the direct object (what’s being read), and で makes 原作 act in the instrumental case – “with” the original versions.
Note that the を in both these sentences can also be は!
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Thank you. Yes, I am more familiar with sentences written as per your first example.
(It can’t be は because it’s a sub clause)
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