217. Iru, "to dwell," "to live," "to be" (in the sense of living), hence only used when speaking of living creatures, especially human beings. It may often be omitted when translating. Thus: Yokohama ni iru gaikoku-jin, "the foreigners (dwelling) in Yokohama."

218. Naru is the usual equivalent of the copula, "to be," thus Hohei no buki wa ju nari, "The arm of the infantry is the rifle." It is used to turn nouns into adjectives (§ 19c) and also very frequently as an "ornamental verb" (§ 214). Occasionally the circumlocution ni aru or nite aru is used instead of naru. Thus: Toki imada kogeki no toki ni arazu (instead of narazu), "It is not yet time for the attack." In such cases ni is not properly the postposition ni, but an old indefinite form of naru, "to be," now almost disused. Nite is the gerund of naru, "to be." In some cases naru stands for ni (the postposition "in") and aru, and must then be rendered by "in" or "at." Thus: Nagoya naru (for ni aru) Dai Roku Rentai, "The Sixth Regiment (which is) at Nagoya."

219. Naku, nashi, naki (sometimes called the "negative adjective") "there is not," "there was not," etc., thus: Sõi nashi, "There is no doubt."

220. Oru same as iru.

221. Suru. (a) Properly "to do," sometimes means "to be," as in Oto suru, "There is a noise"; Ka to su, "It is good." Iu-beku shite, okonau-bekarazu, lit., "being that one may talk, and that one may not do," i.e., "It may be talked of, but it cannot be done." Yukazu shite for yukazu, "(being) not going."

b) Often as in the last of these instances, it is most convenient to look on it as an expletive. Nihonjin ni shite, "being a Japanese."

c) Most frequently suru simply serves to verbalize nouns, as ai suru, "to love," from ai, "love"

shi suru, "to die," from shi, "death"

kaika suru, "to be civilized," from kaika, "civilization"

The resulting verb, as seen by these instances, is sometimes active, sometimes neuter, sometimes passive, usage alone deciding in each case which it shall be. To obtain an equivalent for the active verb, "to civilize," we must use the causative form kaika seshimuru.

d) Suru sometimes means "to be about to," as: Sen to suru, "I am about to do."

e) Sometimes it means "to consider," as: Kinyō nari to suru, "to consider important."

VERBS USED AS OTHER PARTS OF SPEECH

222. Some few verbs (mostly in the gerundial form) are used as postpositions. Thus (ni) oite, "in" (oite stands for okite, gerund of oku, "to place"); (wo) motte, "by means of" (motte stands for mochite, gerund of motsu, "to hold").

223. Others correspond to English adverbs, adverbial phrases, or conjunctions, thus:

hajimete, "for the first time," gerund of hajimuru, "to begin" shiite, "urgently," "forcibly," gerund of shiyuru, "to press" nokorazu, "without exception," "all," neg. gerund of nokosu, "to remain"

sareba, "that being so, ," " then," conditional of saru, "to be thus" shibaraku shite, "after a little while," "shortly"

shikarazu shite, "on the contrary"

224. The attributive form of the present tense is sometimes doubled and used adverbially. Thus: kaesu-gaesu, "over and over again," from kaesu, "to turn over"; miru-miru, "before one's very eyes," from miru, "to see."

225. The attributive forms of verbs and adjectives, followed or not by koto, often correspond to English abstract nouns, or to English infinitives or present participles. Thus: shimpo suru, or shimpo suru koto, "progress," "to progress," "making progress," naki koto, or in the past tense nakarishi koto, "absence." Shimpo suru mono, would mean "a thing (or person) that progresses"; naki mono "an absent thing" (or person). For though both koto and mono are most literally rendered by the English word "thing," koto always refers to abstract things, facts, affairs, matters, etc., while mono generally refers to actual tangible objects, and even to persons.

CHAPTER IX

THE EPISTOLARY STYLE

226. The epistolary style, as its name indicates, is that employed in letters and dispatches. Its use is not, however, limited to these. It is frequently met with in notices and advertisements, and occasionally in books and newspapers. In the latter it appears chiefly as a conventional substitute for the colloquial, that is to say, that it is used when it is desired to reproduce, as exactly as may be, the actual words spoken by some person quoted. To give these words in the colloquial would be considered an infringement of the dignity of written speech.

While this subject is handled here in a few pages, the art of actually reading letters written in the handwriting of the Japanese is a difficult study requiring years in which to become efficient.

227. The peculiarities distinguishing the epistolary style from the ordinary written style, treated of in the preceding pages, are very marked. These peculiarities are shown in their conjugation and phraseology.

A PECULIAR CONJUGATION OF VERBS AND ADJECTIVES

228. Almost every verb is turned into a compound by means of the irregular verb sōrō, which is suffixed to the indefinite form. Originally sōrō was an independent verb, samurau, signifying "to be in attendance on" (cf. samurai, "an attendant on a feudal lord"). When used alone it signifies nothing more than "to be." When added to other verbs and adjectives it is a meaningless suffix, generally corresponding to the masu of the colloquial. Goza sōrō is more honorific than sōrō alone. Zonji sōrō is the same as omou, "to think." The conjugation of sōrō is irregular and defective, the following being the only tenses in ordinary

229. Sōrō having no indefinite form, the indefinite form of the plain verb is used instead to mark the end of a subordinate clause. The gerund or the indefinite form of the plain verb is also generally preferred to the gerund sōrōte. The future sõrawan is rare, being almost always replaced by the (properly potential) termination beku sōrō. The conditional sõraeba is not infrequently used for the hypothetical sōrawaba. In the negative voice sōrō is suffixed to the gerund of the plain verb. In adjectives it is suffixed to the indefinite form.

230. The ordinary conjugation of a verb in the epistolary style is therefore as follows:

Present or Past.

EPISTOLARY CONJUGATION

itasu, "to do" (stem itas)

AFFIRMATIVE VOICE

itashi

(I) do, or did