The Way It Seems, the Way It Really Is 如く・きらいがある・かたわら・あっての

State a personal evaluation carefully, qualify a claim, and express a judgment with an appropriate degree of force. These patterns let an author state an evaluation while signaling its source or strength. Separate the observable facts from the writer’s judgment, then notice whether a phrase narrows the claim or makes it more forceful.

Patterns in this lesson

• 如く・如き・如し — Like, Similar to, As if, The same as
• きらいがある — Have a tendency to, Tend to, Be slightly~
• かたわら — While, Besides, In addition to
• をいいことに — To take advantage of
• をおいてほかに〜ない — No…but, Nothing else but, None other than
• あっての — Exist only because of or due to, Owe everything to
• ながらに — While being, Born (with), Traditional (old-fashioned, as it was long ago), As always, While crying or in tears, (Burned) alive
• たなり・なり — While… ~ing, Remaining, Not or ever since, Keep or leave
• だの — Things like, And so on, Or something, And whatnot
• あくまでも — To the (bitter) end, Stubbornly, Persistently
• ところを — When, While, In spite of (the circumstances), Regardless of (the circumstances)
• にして② — To be ~ and ~, To be ~ as well as ~, Both ~ and ~
• いかなる — What kind of, No matter what kind of, No … (with a negative verb), Any… (with a negative verb)

きらいがある points to a tendency, often an undesirable one, without claiming it happens every time. The pattern softens a direct accusation.

When summarizing an editorial, label each sentence as evidence, interpretation, or evaluation. These forms often signal the last two.

Vocabulary