Structure
Verb + ことに
[い]Adjective + ことに
[な]Adjective + な + ことに
Details
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Standard
使用域
一般
About ことに
Not to be confused with 事 'thing', 殊 is an adverb with the same reading that often appears in hiragana, specifically to highlight that something is to a 'great extent'. Due to being used adverbially, 殊 will be followed by に. The kanji 殊 itself has the meaning of 'particularly'.
This expression is regularly seen after verbs, い or な-Adjectives. When 殊 has the meaning of 'particularly', 'especially', or 'to my (A)', it is almost always describing some kind of feeling or emotion.
This expression is regularly seen after verbs, い or な-Adjectives. When 殊 has the meaning of 'particularly', 'especially', or 'to my (A)', it is almost always describing some kind of feeling or emotion.
- ビックリすることに、久しぶりに小学生時代の友達から電話がかかってきた。I am especially surprised that I got a phone call from a friend from elementary school after such a long time.
- 珍しいことに、彼がいいレストランに連れていってくれた。It is particularly rare to be taken to a nice restaurant by him.
- 残念なことに、その商品はもう販売中止になりました。Unfortunately, that product is no longer being sold.
Fun Fact
A very common expression 幸いなことに uses this particular grammar structure as a set phrase, and is often translated simply as 'fortunately', or 'luckily'.- 幸いなことに、近所の人が私の猫を見つけて家まで届けてくれた。Fortunately, my neighbor found our cat for us, and brought her home.
Fun Fact
Although it is quite uncommon, こと may also be seen as 異, a kanji meaning 'irregular'.Synonyms
Antonyms
Examples
幸せなことに、来年結婚します。
I am extremely happy about getting married next year.
嬉しいことに日本語能力試験に合格しました。
I am especially happy about passing the JLPT.
驚いたことに、6ヶ月で赤ちゃんが初めて歩いた。
To our extreme surprise, the six month old baby took its first steps.
不幸なことに、彼は奥さんがなくなり失意のあまり、辞職した。
Sadly, he was so heartbroken after his wife's death that he resigned.
不思議なことに、最近物事がすべてうまくいく。
By some extreme oddity, lately everything seems to be going well.
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ことに – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (5 in total)
Daru
We usually reserve 硬 for strictly academic/written only/extremely formal Grammar Points, while this Grammar Point is a bit stiff it’s certainly not to the degree of a 硬 Grammar Point.
For example, just from the fact that there’s the very common expression 幸いなことに is enough to NOT validate it as a 硬 Grammar Point.
Hope this helps!
Ferpalaciosd
Quick question – I’m under the impression that inverting the sentence order for some of these would come off more natural.
Example:
嬉しい殊に、みんなが協力してくれるようになりました.
vs.
みんなが協力してくれるようになりましたので、嬉しい殊に.Maybe it would need a bit more tooling for it to be grammatically sound, but that’s just my two cents.
whatyouexpect
Hi, the Bunpro entry suggests that this ことに comes from the adverb 殊, but I cannot find any other sources that support that claim. It seems to just be regular こと. Also in the 幸いなことに entry it does say that this is the こと that means “thing”.
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