That you can’t trust AI answers in areas where you don’t have the ability to check them?
If this question was on a JLPT test or JLPT practice material then it means the answer is pretty clear. The stats about frequency of the two expressions lean のように by a factor of fifty. And buried in the comments of this maggie sensei blog post (search for “doesn’t sound natural”) somebody asks her about this exact sentence and she says that it has to be のように and みたいに doesn’t sound natural to her.
I don’t know the fine points between みたいに and のように
I was planning to do some research (thank you all for the above discussion, I am not experienced enough to settle for “sounds unnatural”) But then I laid down for a “short nap” after lunch today, and suddenly find myself waking up after 6pm!! A whole day wasted on jet lag! Yikes!
Personally, I’m still absorbing the use of ように as “should” or to denote an ideal case that we should strive for. I own three digital volumes of “A Dictionary of ___ Japanese Grammar”, but don’t often open it these days. I guess that it would be helpful for this thread.
I’m taking a break now to read through the forwards and skim the appendices of A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and if I still have energy, Advanced…
But first, the Japanese Index in Basic only lists mitaida <yōda> under M p.550… and it has 5 entries for various forms of yōni from p.553 to p.562…
I did find the discussion of 例文 いつものように/いつもみたいに helpful.
pmさん、How does one do an “Ngram corpus count” to ascertain real-world usage of a phrase?
It’s one of the tools lurking in the wwwjdic website. There are two different corpuses (big piles of text) and so two lookup pages:
Google N-Gram Corpus Counts (“Google corpus”)
Kyoto/Melbourne N-Gram Corpus Counts (“Kyoto/Melbourne corpus”)
The first one is bigger so probably the one to use usually. You can put in several different words or expressions to see which is more used, or the same word with different variant kanji, or ask it to give counts with different suffixes (handy for “is this a suru verb or just a noun?” questions).
The input data is just “things people wrote on the internet”, so it does include mistakes, typos, slang, nonstandard constructions, etc, but I find it interesting and useful to check occasionally.
Anyhow, I’ve asked on Japanese Stack Exchange, maybe we’ll get a definite answer.
2. はじめにうまく _______ 、何度でも、何度でも、やってみるんだね。
いかなかったら
いかなくて
いかないと
いかないで
何度でも: なんどでも：any number of times;
やる: to do + みる = try to do.
うまく: this is probably the adverbial form of an い adjective, うまい, to be good at something.
行く（いく）is probably next.
I think it’s something along the lines of:
…no matter how many times, try and try again.
The beginning probably means:
If it first you’re not good, try and try again.
That’s the gist of it, translation might be off here and there.
So it’s a case of と vs たら. Instinctively, I’d say they both work. But we know that’s not the case. I could look up と and たら again but let’s see if my instincts are right. I’d go with いかなかったら.
…
Yes, that’s right. I think I picked that because was more like something automatic: when it’s cloudy, it rains. Whereas たら is more conditional and hypothetical.
SOME NEWS!
I think I’ve finally figured it out.
The JLPT questions I’ve been using are not official, they’re from a website. They’ve been good so far but I think what happened here is just that the question itself wasn’t well designed.
The website:
https://japanesetest4you.com/japanese-language-proficiency-test-jlpt-n4-grammar-exercise-5/#more-37
I got an answer from Japanese Stack Exchange:
What is the source of this question? As you have gathered, they are both technically acceptable, but いつものように is more standard and widely used. いつものように is itself a set phrase that means “as usual,” and can be used in formal settings. いつもみたいに on the other hand is a little less common and a bit less formal, and I would say it has a slightly different nuance. いつものように indicates something habitual, a normal state as observed from the outside. いつもみたいに on the other hand is a little more focused, grounded and casual. If you say 彼はいつもみたいに笑っていた it sounds like you’re telling your friend that someone was smiling like they always are. If you say 彼はいつものように笑っていた, it sounds more literary, like you’re describing a scene in a novel.
That’s not to say you can’t use いつものように in casual contexts. You certainly can. But いつもみたいに is lower in the formality register.
Now, with that in mind, in the original 「彼らはいつものようにソファーの上でレコードをきいていた。」, yes, both can be correct, and this is not a very well written question. But the general ubiquity of the phrase いつものように and the usual higher register of test materials suggests that いつものように is probably preferable in this instance.
So I think we can chalk this one out as a question which wasn’t well designed, or at least, not as well designed or ‘clear cut’.
Also, another answer from Japanese Stack Exchange:
Besides the difference in formality, みたい is more suitable when something actually resembles another thing. Though totally acceptable in casual speech, your sentence wouldn’t sound as natural with みたい because 彼ら (people) are not directly comparable with いつも (time).
彼らはいつものように笑っていた。
? 彼らはいつもみたいに笑っていた。The next two sentences are equally natural. The second just sounds slightly less formal than the first.
彼らは子供のように笑っていた。
彼らは子供みたいに笑っていた。
Ooh!! Thank you for the reminder! Without thinking too much, I thought If at first, it doesn’t go well, try try again, and selected いかないと without considering the other possibilities. (and this reflex contributed to my recent N3 fail)
(I honestly think this might be key here).
いつものように is itself a set phrase that means “as usual,” and can be used in formal settings.
This also is useful in the sense that ‘it’s just a set phrase’ might be the answer, quite simply.
3. 子供たちが動物園への _______ をたずねた。
行方
行き方
行く方
行った方
I wasn’t not familiar with the ending here, until I looked it up. Then I realized it was just 訪ねる (to visit) or 尋ねる (to inquire, to ask, to look into).
行き方 means ‘way of going’. I think it’s just v. masu + かた, way of doing verb. Guess what, looked it up on Bunpro:
The children asked how to go to the zoo.
Would be how I translate it.
Before I forget, I’m putting this back up here since no one answered in case someone knows about this. If not, I’ll ask on exchange/GPT.
You’ll get it next time.
4. 電車を _______ としたとき、 ころんでけがをしました。
おり
おりる
おりて
おりよう
降りる：Isn’t it weird how sometimes you recognize a word with kanji at a glimpse but when in kana it doesn’t ring a bell? Isn’t just plain bizarre? Outrageous? ‘Out there’ to the the parlance of our time?
I’d say it’s just a plain old おりる here.
…
And no, it’s not. Let’s figure out why. So 降りよう is just the volitional. ’
When I wanted to get to get off the train,… I fell down and hurt myself.
Actually, I didn’t translate the second part, thus my likely downfall.
Isn’t it kind of weird though, …at the time I wanted to get off the train…? Wouldn’t it be better to say: When I got off the train, I fell down and injured myself.
No?
I got this one correct,
but if it had been a する Verb, I would have missed it.
Thank you for posting the conjugation rule!
In English, even thought it’s not 時間をかかる (to take time; to cost time), I would have interpreted 時間を取る as “to take time”… I often put “to take” for 取る in other instances.
I see that there are many phrases meaning to take time from the search results of Jisho on ‘take time’ (normal Jisho does better than Lorenzi’s Jisho for a EN→JP search)
And also that 時間を取る is “to take/make time {for…}”
But then… I’m still struggling to make sense of the original question sentence!
It’s certainly in “polite form” with the お’s and ご’s before everything… So it’s like an employee addressing their boss. I guess requesting some time off? (Before looking at the 答え options, I thought it was going to be Thank you for letting me take time off)…
It seems like an employee wouldn’t honorablyお their own time時間… But only the time of someone else?! 
I think. (I’m 下手badへた at keigo)… But if it’s a superior, then why would the speaker be giving permission?
Anyway, for the first time ever, I looked at something on JPod101 link to ゆるす question… They advised considering the tense of the other Verb, as to whether it’s forgiveness (past tense) or permission (non-past tense).
So this question looks similar to the Jisho sentence example quoted by the ZJpod101 person:
約束を破った事を許してください。- yakusoku wo yabutta koto wo yurushite kudasai - “Please forgive me for breaking my promise.”
Notice that 破った is in the past tense, so 許す must mean ‘forgive’.
.
母は私が海外に行くのを許した。- haha wa watashi ga kaigai ni iku no wo yurushita - “My mother allowed me to go abroad.”
Here, we think that 許す means ‘allow’ because 行く is in the present tense.
So I guess it’s Please forgive me for taking time off. But that doesn’t make sense with I pray for your health and happiness.…
Once again, I posted it into Google. Didn’t even consider that the first part might be Excuse me for taking your time…
The Japanese doesn’t mean “to have time”, it means the speaker has taken the time of (i.e. imposed on) the person they’re talking to. Compare downtimes’ translation in an earlier post: “Please excuse me for having taken your time”. (You could phrase that “for taking your time” if you really wanted to.)
Vようとする is a construct meaning “try to” (bunpro). DoBJG mentions it but only briefly in its “miru” entry.
Sure you can say that, but it’s just not what the sentence is saying. You have to work with what you have in the sentence and the とする grammar point needs volitional right before it. It doesn’t help to think what a person also might say in a similar situation 
.
If you want you can think about how you would construct the sentence with the other meaning but it wouldn’t use とした.
The sentence is spoken after some interaction, e.g. with a customer. You are being polite and excuse yourself from having taken their time for the interaction. Notice the past tense of the sentence (とりました). So the time taking has already happened. And then you pray for their health and well-being.
5. 誰が相手 _***_ 、***どんなこと __ 、彼は納得させてしまう。
ても/ても
など/など
でも/でも
なら/なら
相手【あいて】partner. In the latest Silent Hill game, I think that’s how the protagonist calls her friend, 相手.
Now, far from me the idea of complaining for no reason but using N3 vocabulary in a JLPT 4 mock test is 
. With the みたに/のように debacle that’s strike two sir! Just kidding.
納得+する：to consent, agree. Here it’s させて which means ‘causative’, to ‘let someone, make someone’ do something.
しまう: is by accident, unwittingly. It’s a concept I still very broadly understand, not super tight grasp on it.
No wait… it’s not. I could’ve sworn there was an aux. verb which did just that.
So させて+しまう works here (～て+しまう).
納得してしまう would’ve mean have agreed. But here it’s causative, to make someone agree, to have made someone agree. You wouldn’t really say ‘to let someone agree’ I don’t think.
This sentence is difficult for me for various reasons.
a) 誰が相手, I’m not sure I understand.
b) the causative + 納得 is hard for me to. ‘make someone agree’?
It’s possible to determine the right answer for this one just on grammar without having to understand the 彼は納得させてしまう part.
Vてしまう can mean both “completion” and “by accident” (bunpro).
Lorenzi’s on 納得
And then I’m uncertain of the correct words for Causative Form here, together with Verbてしまう (accident or completion; Duolingo usually puts “ended up Verb-ing”)…
… he ended up being convinced (meaning #2)
… he ended up agreeing
But pm is correct, we really only need to focus on the first part of the sentence.
誰が相手 ___、どんなこと ___
ても/ても (“even if…even if”)
など/など (“and the like…and the like”)
でも/でも (“either…or”/“neither…nor”)
なら/なら (“if…if”)
でも has a “…でも,…でも” form, meaning listed above lorenzi link でも… But it didn’t seem to fit!
As for who, partner ___, what sort of thing ___
I’m leaning towards なら/なら
If there is a partner, there are those kinds of things BUT I think it’s wrong to have two なら be if/then
OH!
I think the light bulb is turning on!!
The 誰 goes ONLY with the 相手!
誰が相手 ___、どんなこと ___、彼は納得される
Who is the partner… What kind of thing… he has ended up agreeing to it/consenting to it…
So it should be
Whoever and whatever… Therefore でも
誰でも (だれでも anyone, everyone, whoever)
なんでも (anything, everything, whatever)
Um… According to Almighty Google (Zizka, that’s a joke!… I don’t greatly esteem Google Translate, but it can give me ideas to use),
「誰が相手でも、どんなことでも、彼は納得される。」can be interpreted by an AI as
“No matter who he’s dealing with or what the situation is, he always manages to convince them.”
Gyaah!! I think that hurt my brain! It took me faaar too long to interpret that! 
So that’s what it was. Let’s see (this is also N3 according to Bunpro, starting to wonder if I should try to find N4 exercises somewhere else).
So basically, it means:
Try to, Attempt to, To be about to
By the way, pm125san, what level are you? N1? N0?
Good time to review volitional, actually.
降りる「おりる」to get off
For Godan, you switch from う to お row (+う）at the end.
For ichidan verb, you just replace the plain form る to よう. Since 降りる is ichidan, it shifts to 降り「よう」, here.
So, yes, 降りよう (volitional) + とする＝to try to get off.
When I tried to get off the train, I fell down and injured myself.
I believe you have #4 correct, Zizka, おりよう
Zizka, while I was in Japan, I took a test called the BJT (Business Japanese Test), which tries to ascertain level of understanding when given spoken or written instructions in Japanese.
Wiki on the BJT
Administration website: Pearson Vue
…Anyway, I mention it now because you’ve twice complained about them testing on higher than N4 level material on the N4 test.
…I don’t actually think that the JLPT test writers or administrators have ever published study materials or “N5 grammar” or “N4 vocabulary” type lists.
…I think the many lists circulating were generated by people after (illegally) studying the types of questions (or illegal copies) of past exams… Or just guesswork/supposition by experienced teachers of Japanese.
… But on the BJT, it’s a single test, and the assignment of language level attained just depends on the score. Mine–without any study or preparation, just going in cold to take the test-- ended up being just under N3 level. Which sort of tracks with my N3 scores (laughing wryly)
I passed N1 back in the mid-2010s, I forget exactly when.
You’ve switched the original させてしまう into される here, which flips the meaning around (but doesn’t affect the answer, where your reasoning is correct)
Oh, OOPS
… for some reason, it wasn’t “selectable” (so I couldn’t copy/paste) and I was typing from memory …because now, since some discourse upgrade??, I am no longer able to see the post to which I am responding while I am writing a response.
Zizka…
…I’m a little bit ashamed that I’m not actually testing at a higher level in Japanese …
I have been studying practically every single day since April 2019… It’s just a darned lot of stuff to remember!
… Every day, I am working to transfer more information into my Active Vocabulary, so that I can more easily comprehend written and spoken Japanese; and speak and write, including handwriting.
…I feel like the solid part of my foundation has been growing broader and more solid over the years. It makes these analyses that you had started me doing in 2020 get easier and easier, and I am remembering the details a bit more each time…
… But it’s still just a darn lot of stuff to remember!
I think that, as I finish Wanikani level 60 soon; and I continue this year reading and listening to as much as possible, and keep studying… that I should see steady growth of my Active Vocabulary and continued increase of my ability to speak and understand quickly.
