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JLPT N3Emphasis

～ことに(は)— To My Surprise

Placed at the start of a sentence to state the speaker's emotional reaction to what follows: 'to my surprise / joy / regret, ...'. It front-loads the feeling before revealing the fact. It attaches to emotion words such as 驚いた, 嬉しい, 残念な, 困った.

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Structure · 形

[Emotion verb た-form / い-adj / な-adj な] + ことに(は)

Examples · 例文

  • 驚いたことに、彼はもう帰っていた。

    Odoroita koto ni, kare wa mou kaette ita.

    To my surprise, he had already gone home.

    驚いた + ことに front-loads the reaction of surprise

  • 嬉しいことに、試験に合格した。

    Ureshii koto ni, shiken ni goukaku shita.

    To my joy, I passed the exam.

    嬉しい (い-adj) + ことに = 'happily, ...'

  • 残念なことに、試合は中止になった。

    Zannen na koto ni, shiai wa chuushi ni natta.

    Regrettably, the match was cancelled.

    残念な (な-adj) + ことに = 'to my regret, ...'

Usage notes · 注意

  • Comes at the very front of the sentence, before the fact being reacted to.
  • Only pairs with words expressing emotion or evaluation (surprise, joy, regret, worry).
  • Register: slightly formal/written; the optional は adds a touch more emphasis.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～ことに(は) is tested against.

vsことか

ことか is an exclamation of degree at the end of a sentence ('how very ~!'); ことに opens a sentence to state one's reaction before the fact.

vsものだから

ものだから gives an excuse/reason; ことに simply expresses the speaker's emotional reaction to the following fact.

More emphasis

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