Mastering the use of こと and の can be a challenge for beginners and advanced students alike.
As it’s one of the first words most students learn, it can be surprising to discover just how tricky all the uses of こと in Japanese actually are. While it’s in most beginner’s textbooks, this critical particle will also be waiting for them when they reach the intermediate- to advanced-level Japanese, too!
そこで 質問ですが、↑の英文に出ている this critical particleは「こと」という形式名詞を指していますが、それでは critical particleを英語で言い換えると、次のうちの どれに一番近いでしょうか?
① lethal grain
② meaningful pronoun
③ problematic part
④ serious suffix
⑤ very important little word
A:
⑤ very important little word
…ですね。
critical / particle …どちらも複数の意味がありますが、
この文脈なら、
critical ≒ very important
particle ≒ little word
…です。