Grammar Info

N1 Lesson 1: 12/17

を良(い)い事(こと)にTo take advantage of

Similar to ～を言い訳に、～いい機会に

Structure

Verb + の + をいいことに（して）
Noun + （なの）+ をいいことに（して）
［い］Adjective + の + をいいことに（して）
［な］Adjective + なの + をいいことに（して）

Details

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    Standard

About をいいことに

を良(い)いことに is an expression in Japanese that may be translated as 'to take advantage of (A)', and generally refers to someone that is using (A) as a good opportunity to do something that is either immoral, or irresponsible. This construction is a combination of を, the い-Adjective 良(い)い 'good', the noun こと 'thing', and the particle に. A more literal translation can be thought of as 'making good of (A), (B)', although the nuance is exactly the same as 'to take advantage of (A)' in English.

を良(い)いことに will be seen following verbs, nouns, い-Adjectives and な-Adjectives, but will be preceded by either の or なの in all cases, based on standard conjugation rules for の.

It is also quite common to see して attached to the end of を良(い)いことに without any significant change in either meaning or strength.

Misc.

Examples

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    彼(かれ)は私(わたし)が稼(かせ)いでいるのを良(い)い事(こと)に、遊(あそ)んでばかりいます。

    Taking advantage of that I am turning a profit; he is doing nothing but having fun.

    先生(せんせい)の目(め)が悪(わる)いのを良(い)い事(こと)に試験(しけん)中(ちゅう)にカンニングしていた。

    Taking advantage of the teacher's bad sight, I cheated during the exam.

    私(わたし)はお母(かあ)さんが忘(わす)れっぽいのを良(い)い事(こと)に、責任(せきにん)から逃(のが)れようとした。

    Taking advantage of that my mom is forgetful, I tried to evade taking responsibility.

    彼女(かのじょ)は新入社員(しんにゅうしゃいん)なのを良(い)い事(こと)に、仕事(しごと)が出来(でき)ないふりをしている。

    Taking advantage of that she is a new recruit; she is pretending that she doesn’t know how to do the work.

    敵(てき)が罠(わな)にはまったのを良(い)い事(こと)に、全力(ぜんりょく)で総攻撃(そうこうげき)をしかけた。

    Taking advantage of the enemy being trapped, he launched an all-out attack.

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をいいことに – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (1 in total)

  • casual

    casual

    This is a relatively intuitive construction, but I have a couple of questions both about it and about Bunpro’s article as currently written:

    1

    を良いことに will be seen following verbs, nouns, い-Adjectives and な-Adjectives, but will be preceded by either の or なの in all cases, based on standard conjugation rules for の.
    「を良いことに」の前には、動詞、名詞、イ形容詞、ナ形容詞が置かれます。どの品詞も活用ルールにもとづいて、後ろに「の」もしくは「なの」が付きます。

    Is this really true?
    Nouns are regularly seen attached directly without なの, even in one of the examples given by Bunpro:

    夏休みのうちは住人の留守を良い事に泥棒が増えるばかりだ。

    2
    Can こと or another nominalizer be used instead of の or is this ungrammatical casual speech?
    For example:

    彼らは自分の主人に見えないことをいいことに俺を睨み付けている。

    3
    And if noun is possible both with and without なの, is there a difference?
    Let’s take one of Bunpro’...

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