Monday, November 5, 2018

grammar - What is なく doing in this sentence?


While reading the light novel for 君の名は I came across this sentence in the first chapter:



私は大切な誰かと隙間なくぴったりとくっついている。




Is using なく here equivalent to using ないで or does it have a different meaning altogether?



Answer



The なく is the 連用形 of ない used in the sense of:



10 名詞に付いて、否定の意を含む形容詞をつくる。「こころ―・い」「違い―・い」「面目 (めんぼく) ―・い」 (デジタル大辞泉)



ない can be attached to a noun, forming an i-adjective with a negative meaning ("without~~"). A few more examples: 「[絶]{た}え[間]{ま}ない」「休みない」「[跡形]{あとかた}ない」「[相違]{そうい}ない」


[隙間]{すきま}なく in your example is the 連用形, or the adverbial form, of 「隙間ない」, i.e. 隙間+ない.


Examples: 「絶え間なく」「休みなく」「跡形なく」「[余念]{よねん}なく」「[仕方]{しかた}なく」


No comments:

Post a Comment

periodic trends - Comparing radii in lithium, beryllium, magnesium, aluminium and sodium ions

Apparently the of last four, $\ce{Mg^2+}$ is closest in radius to $\ce{Li+}$. Is this true, and if so, why would a whole larger shell ($\ce{...