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> 一生懸命な彼に申し訳ない気がしました。そこで、私は一度彼と会って面と向かって断ろうと思ったのです。  
>  'I felt I had to do something so I decided to meet him face to face and
> tell him I wasn't interested.'

`一生懸命`を副詞として使ったら 'eagerly, with utmost effort, very hard'
という意味になると思います。でも形容詞として使ったらどんなニュアンスになりますか？この例で否定的なニュアンスがあるのか誰か説明してくれませんか？

If `一生懸命` is used as a な-adjective to describe someone, is it usually
negative? In this example, the suitor was overly persistent, so the girl
wanted to actively reject him.

Please pardon any mistakes made in my faulty Japanese.
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2011-09-23T21:24:56.970
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2011-12-29T05:38:36.630
2011-12-29T05:38:36.630
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question
grammar adjectives nuances na-adjectives
"一生懸命な”のニュアンスを説明してもらえませんか。Nuances of 一生懸命な
I don't think "一生懸命" by itself has any particular connotations either way.
Definitions given in Kenkyuusha's 新和英大辞典 range from "desperate, frantic", to
"earnest,eager". It really seems to depend on context. It just means that
whatever you're doing, good or bad or in-between, you're doing it full-out.

In the example, I really don't get any sense at all of a negative judgment; in
fact, quite the opposite. "I felt so sorry for him, trying so hard." After
all, if she wanted to express annoyance, she could have said he was "しつこい", or
even "うるさい".

Incidentally, "断ろうと思った" means that she considered rejecting him, not that she
decided to do it.
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2011-09-24T09:16:09.577
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2011-09-24T09:16:09.577
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answer