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In the book I'm reading (「キッチン」 by 吉本{よしもと}ばなな) I have found the following
sentence:

> うしろで雄一がぞうきん **を** 手に床をふいてくれていた。

I guess it can be translated to something like (sorry for a quite literal
translation): "Behind (me) Yuuichi was wiping the floor with a cloth using his
hands".

This sentence has two を. One of them (床をふいてくれていた) I understand as marking the
direct object (floor) of the verb (wipe).

I cannot understand what the other を is doing there (ぞうきんを). What meaning does
it have? What grammatical pattern is used in here?
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2014-06-03T23:41:20.780
16288
2014-09-21T23:36:18.370
2014-09-21T23:36:18.370
5041
5041
question
grammar particle-を
Two を in a single sentence - how to understand it?
You usually can't have two をs in one clause, so when you see one, most
commonly one of the following is true:

  1. It's part of a 〜を〜に（して） construction in which して is left out.

> AをBに → AをBに（して）

You can recognize this one by the distinctive 〜を〜に pattern, often with a
comma.

  2. A repeated verb has been left out ("backward gapping"):

> XがAを、そしてYがBを買った → XがAを(買い)、そしてYがBを買った

Unlike English, in Japanese the _last_ verb is retained rather than the first.

  3. The を links to a verb in a subordinate clause.

> Aを [ BをCして ] Dする

If you see two をs in a row like this and they don't seem to suggest the same
verb is coming up, it's usually a signal that the speaker has started a
subordinate clause. Each を links to a different verb.

In this case, I suppose it's probably #1:

> うしろで雄一が **ぞうきんを 手に(して）** 床をふいてくれていた。

Yuuichi was wiping the floor _with a cloth in his hand_.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-04T00:04:38.140
16289
2014-06-04T00:04:38.140
16288
answer