Thursday, December 27, 2018

grammar - Can't wrap my mind around this sentence


I'm sorry I can't provide a more specific headline, but it's the overall meaning or the structure of the sentence that I'm struggling with.


It's from a manga (Plunderer, vol. 4). Here's the context:


Licht, the hero, is regarded as a deserter. First lieutenant Jail is hunting him. A lot of things happen and Jail actually ends up helping Licht. In doing so he violates military regulations. He hides Licht, but his superior finds out. On returning to their hideout, Jail tells Licht that he has to take him into custody. He doesn't actually tell him why, but Licht seems to know and says the following:



Bubble 1: さしあたりボクを連行すればボクを信頼させるため止{や}むをえずということにできるとかで...


Bubble 2: 部下たちの命は助けられるって言われた...


Bubble 3: って所かな...?



Now, I think that all of this is one sentence which reads as "You were told that the lives of your subordinates could be saved by/if you [whatever bubble 1 means], or something along those lines, right?"



I thought that bubble 1 must mean something like "If you take me into custody [for now] in order to regain your superior's trust", but that doesn't seem to be the case after all. The parts seem to be there, but they just don't fit together (also, why "ボクを信頼させる"? I feel like I'm missing something here) and then it's all enclosed by "ということにできる". I'm at a loss and I hope that someone can shed light on this issue.



Answer



First, さしあたり doesn't modify 連行すれば but って所かな ("maybe / I guess") and it means how the speaker guesses is just hypothetical.


Edit: I'm thinking it's more natural to interpret さしあたり modifies ということにできる instead. (This interpretation would mean they may punish Jail later, after all.)


ボク(Licht)を信頼させる means that Jail lets Licht believe him.


…ということにできる is the potential form of …ということにする, which is "to regard it as …".


So, the first sentence means, "with an excuse that they (Jail's boss) can regard it (Jail having hidden Licht) as an inevitable action to let me (Licht) believe him or so".


With the second sentence, which is "he (Jail) was told that they could save subordinates' lives".


No comments:

Post a Comment

digital communications - Understanding the Matched Filter

I have a question about matched filtering. Does the matched filter maximise the SNR at the moment of decision only? As far as I understand, ...