Thanks, KyleGoetz.

Hi, I would like to know if the alterations are correct?


A. 太郎の私生活についてうわさ話をする。

B. 太郎の私生活についてうわさする。



A. 井戸端会議でするうわさ話。

B. 井戸端会議でうわさする。



A. うわさ話は、口コミによって広がっていく。

B. うわさは、口コミによって広がっていく。



A. 大きな声でうわさ話をする。

B. 大きな声でうわさする。



A. うわさ話を嫌う。

B. うわさを嫌う。

Which ones (or parts) are the alterations?

B are the ones.

A. 太郎の私生活についてうわさ話をする。

B. 太郎の私生活についてうわさする。 Correct if colloquial. Need 「を」.

A. 井戸端会議でするうわさ話。 Just a relative clause.
B. 井戸端会議でうわさする。 A sentence.

A. うわさ話は、口コミによって広がっていく。

B. うわさは、口コミによって広がっていく。Good.

A. 大きな声でうわさ話をする。

B. 大きな声でうわさする。 Not terribly wrong but better speakers/writers might not say this.

A. うわさ話を嫌う。

B. うわさを嫌う。Correct but this means a different thing from the sentence above.

Thanks, masaegu. I have a couple more questions. Am I right to say that "何をするの" is more appropriate than "どうするの" for the following sentences?

1. あなたが僕だったらどうしますか。

2. 飲み終わった牛乳の紙パックはどうしますか。

3. この洋服はどうするの？


Another question is, while I was watching this dorama, the actress sees a ghost but the ghost disappear almost immediately, so she says 消えてる! Shouldn't it be 消えた?

I can't completely explain this, but you'll notice this ている vs た shows up a lot when comparing English to Japanese. My understanding is that both are correct expressions in this case, but 消えてる will sound more native and focuses on his status as being disappeared. The other is might be more appropriate when saying "five minutes ago he disappeared" as opposed to a present-sense impression of "he just disappeared [a few moments ago]!"

In this case, the ghost's current status is of being gone, so 消えています. Think about the English: "He is vanished!" (is, not was) versus "He vanished!".

That being said, I am in no way able to know when to take ている over た when creating Japanese sentences myself, nor am I able to offer any lesson as to how to know when to use ている over た in situations like this.

No, 「どうするの」 would usually be more natural.

Not really. Though 「消えた」 would not have been incorrect to use, 「消えてる」 sounds much more appropriate and natural to the native ear. I am pretty sure that even in English, "It's gone!" would sound better than "It went away!" in that situation.

BTW, you are not thinking 消えてる as being the present progressive, are you? It is not. It is the equivalent of the English present perfect.

Suppose you are home getting ready to go out. You see it start raining outside. You tell yourself to take an umbrella with you when you go out. In 5 minutes, you are ready to go and you open the front door only to find out it is no longer raining. In this situation, we would definitely say 「止んでる」 instead of 「止んだ」. Only the former can give the nuance of "unexpectedness".

Thanks for the detailed explanation, masaegu.

Thanks alot, KyleGoetz. I always have this problem. For example, I watched this dorama regarding aｎ innocent man being accused of being the murderer of his boss. In the dorama, he keeps saying "やってない" which I thought it supposed to be "やらない". But I am sure I am wrong. Just not sure why is it "やってない".