GRAMMAR DETAIL
〜ことに
Introduces the speaker's emotion or evaluation of the fact that follows.
Examples
幸いなことに、けが人はいなかった。
Fortunately, no one was injured.
Words used
驚いたことに、彼は一人で舞台に立った。
To my surprise, he took the stage alone.
Words used
Study notes
1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning
- Structure:
ことにfollows an emotion or evaluation expression to show how the speaker regards the fact about to be stated. - Basic usage:
驚いたことに、彼は一人で舞台に立った。means that his taking the stage alone surprised the speaker.
2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions
- Who feels and who acts
- In
驚いたことに、彼は来なかった, he is the person who did not come and the speaker is surprised by that fact.彼は驚いて来なかったconnects his own surprise to his action, changing the experiencer.
- In
- Forms for different evaluation words
幸いなことにuses a na-adjective,うれしいことにan i-adjective, and驚いたことにan emotional verb's ta-form. Each introduces an evaluation of the following fact.