Sunday, July 23, 2017

grammar - Why do they use the 連用形 instead of the て form here?



I know that the て form can be used to connect verbs together, like the English "and":



毎日私は食べて寝る。


I eat and sleep every day.



And I know the 連用形 can be used to connect verbs as well, but it kind of combines the meanings of the two verbs, like 飲み込む.


But I am confused by this sentence which appears a lot in TV shows and anime:




この番組はフィクションであり、登場する人物、団体、場所、法律および名称等は実在のものとは一切関係ありません



Why is ある conjugated to 連用形 here? I can understand everything else but this. I have never seen a 連用形 not followed by any other word at the end of a sentence. It is clearly saying that 'This show is a fiction and characters, organization and other stuff is not related to things IRL whatsoever".


Why isn't the て form used here?



この番組はフィクションであって、登場する人物、団体、場所、法律および名称等は実在のものとは一切関係ありません



Can 連用形s be used as て forms, like this?




毎日私は食べ寝る。



Surely not, right?



Answer



Your logic is actually upside down. It's 連用形 that connects clauses, so it's just natural that …食べ、寝る means "eat and sleep". And the point is, te forms are another 連用形 (of 食べつ or 寝つ etc). That's why te forms can connect clauses.


Incidentally, there's no semantic difference between normal 連用形 and te forms in modern grammar.


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