What does the と do here? Placed between two verbs, does that make it the “and” type と?
もう一度よく見ようと急いで振り返ると、
It’s the “volitional form + と” use.
見ようと(…)振り返る - turning back in order to try and see
https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/ようとする-you-to-suru-meaning/
Usually it’s volitional + とする, but it can take this form as well, replacing する with another action verb. I’m not sure that there’s a specific page for exactly this use.
Basically, it reflects the intention to do the thing described by the verb in volitional form.
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Would this still be grammatical if you replaced 見ようと with 見るように? That would just place less emphasis on the “trying” part, but would still be valid, right?
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Yeah, seems about right. Also I feel like this use of ようと is a bit literary, I haven’t heard it in spoken language, just read it in books 
Could be wrong about that though, but that’s the impression I got.
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Thanks for the help!
That would make a lot of sense. The sentence is from the first Harry Potter book 
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What does わけ in 透から聞いた釣り合わないとか本気で言ったわけ!? mean?
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I might be wrong, but for me in this sentence it looks similar to "explanatory"の. わけ can also sometimes be used in similar way as こと.
So it would translate to something like “Was it really that xyz?” Or “Are you telling me that xyz??”
I also found this thread which seems to confirm:
So it seems to be used kind of to emphasize the question. (?)
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That character in Fruits Basket has a very weird speaking style if you ask me. I’d get annoyed at someone who changed every sentence to a question like “are you telling me (main point)?”.
Still good to understand the usage of course. Just pointing out how weird it is to do this so often. (Which you may already know, but can’t hurt to mention.)
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Yeah, 訳 is one of those weird ones that you have to hear/read in a bunch of contexts to figure out.
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I was looking up the difference between あえて & 思い切って the DoJG and came across the following explanation:
…There are also cases in which only 「思い切って」 can be used, as in [2], because 「あえて」is used when one does something that runs counter to common sense, whereas 「思い切って」 is used when one does something difficult to do, regardless of whether it is common sense or not. It is quite natural for a person to speak in English with an American as in [2a] or to talk to a girl as in [2b].
[2]
a. {思い切って/ *あえて} アメリカ人と英語で話してみたら、通じたのでとても嬉しかった。
b. {思い切って/ *あえて} 彼女に声をかけたら、にっこりと笑ってくれたんだ。
I managed to ask 11 natives about 2A, using the あえて version, and 9 of them said it sounded totally fine. The other 2 said 思い切って should be used instead - I tried summarizing their replies below (I hope I didn’t butcher the Japanese):
「あえて」とは、わざわざ、無理してというニュアンスを含むので、例文のケースではやや相応しくないです。
Should I just treat 思い切って & あえて as if they’re interchangeable when used in contexts similar to the example sentences above? If I didn’t tell you that the example sentences above came from the DoJG, would both the 思い切って & あえて versions sound fine to you?
Why is it written 入って, and not 入て? Isn’t 入る and ichidan verb?
No, 入る is a godan verb
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入る (はいる) is a godan verb.
You might be confusing this with 入れる (いれる) which is an ichidan verb.
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I thought all verbs that end with いる/える were ichidan verbs.
Not all, just most. There are pesky exceptions.
I don’t think there are any ichidan verbs which don’t end in いる/える though, off the top of my head. But I’m probably wrong about that.
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As far as I know the rule says that all ichidan verbs end in る, but this doesn’t apply in reverse (e.g., a verb ending in る doesn’t mean it’s an ichidan verb).
Yeah but that’s kind of so broad it’s almost useless in practice. The いる/える rule of thumb is better for guessing even with the exceptions.
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The rule is more specific than that. All ichidan verbs end in a sound rhyming with いる or える. Not all verbs that end in a sound rhyming with いる or える are ichidan.
Although these “exceptions” may be annoying, it turns out a lot of the exceptions are really common words. This means the pain may be significant early on, but after you learn a handle of exceptions it gets much easier. Some really common exceptions (i.e. godan words that fit the ichidan rule) are:
- 入る (はいる)
- 要る (いる) [not to be confused with 居る]
- 帰る (かえる)
- 走る (はしる)
- 知る (しる)
- 切る (きる)
So learn a handful of exceptions, and if it’s not one of those and it ends in a sound rhyming with いる or える, just assume it’s ichidan (until you find out otherwise of course).
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The golden rule in Japanese: All Rules Have Exceptions, Including This One.
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