← Grammar bank

Formation: Emotion V-た + ことに (驚いたことに, 困ったことに); い-adj + ことに (うれしいことに); な-adj + な + ことに (残念なことに, 不思議なことに)

This pattern states the speaker's feeling first and then the fact that caused it, like English 'to my surprise' or 'unfortunately'. It is used with a small set of emotion words such as 驚いた, 困った, 残念な, うれしい, ありがたい, 不思議な, 意外な and 幸いな. Ordinary action verbs cannot take it. It sounds somewhat formal and is common in writing, speeches and narration. The main clause must state a fact; it cannot be a request, an intention or a question. 〜ことには is an older, more literary version with the same meaning. It is unrelated to 〜ないことには, which means 'unless'.

Variants: ことには

Examples

• 驚いたことに、彼女は八十歳でマラソンを完走した。
  To my surprise, she finished a marathon at the age of eighty.
• 残念なことに、その店は先月閉店してしまった。
  Unfortunately, that shop closed down last month.
• うれしいことに、留学生の数が年々増えている。
  Happily, the number of international students is increasing year by year.

In real texts 0 occurrence(s)

No post has used this pattern yet. Examples from real texts will appear here.