英語構文・文法の土台第6回: 疑問・否定・強調・語順

中心イメージ

情報構造は、「文のどこに焦点を置くか」の技術。

実務英語では、強く断定するより、確認する、焦点を置く、やわらかく否定する、相手の理解に合わせて言い直す場面が多い。

Let me make sure I got this right.
What I'm trying to say is that the scope is too large.
It's not that the idea is bad. We just need more data.

ニュアンス比較

Do you mean / Are you saying / Let me make sure

Do you mean the API contract has changed?
Are you saying we should delay the release?
Let me make sure I got this right.

Do you mean ...? は意味確認。Are you saying ...? は相手の主張を確認するので、少し強く聞こえることがある。Let me make sure ... は自分の理解を確認する形なので柔らかい。

It’s not that … / I don’t think …

It's not that the design is wrong. It just needs more context.
I don't think this handles the retry case.

It's not that ... は相手の案を全面否定せず、論点をずらすときに便利。I don't think ... は直接的な意見だが、I think this doesn't ... より自然なことが多い。

What I mean is / The point is

What I mean is that we need a smaller first release.
The point is that this path is not covered by tests.

What I mean is ... は言い直し。The point is ... は論点を絞る表現で、やや強い。

日本語トラップ

否定の位置

Less natural: I think this doesn't work.
Natural: I don't think this works.

英語では、考えや推測を否定するときに I don't think ... がよく使われる。少し柔らかく聞こえる。

「確認したい」を `confirm` に寄せすぎる

Stiff: I want to confirm my understanding.
Natural: Let me make sure I got this right.

confirm は正しいが少し硬い。会議では make sure が自然。

強調しすぎる `very`

Weak: This is very important.
Natural: This is critical for the release.
Natural: This is the main blocker.

実務では very を重ねるより、具体的な評価語を使う。

実務例文

Meeting

Let me make sure I got this right.
What I'm trying to say is that the current scope is too broad.
It's not that we can't do it. We just need to split it into phases.

PR review

I don't think this handles the empty state.
The main concern is that this branch has no test coverage.
What I suggest is moving this logic into a helper.

Incident

The key point is that the database was healthy.
It's not that the deploy failed. The config was missing in production.
Let me clarify the timeline before we decide the root cause.

3秒練習

日本語	英語
理解が合っているか確認させてください	Let me make sure I got this right.
言いたいのは、スコープが大きすぎるということです	What I’m trying to say is that the scope is too large.
アイデアが悪いわけではありません	It’s not that the idea is bad.
空の状態を扱えていないと思います	I don’t think this handles the empty state.