12623
Another sentence from Kanji in Context:

> **自分** は偉いと思って人を見下しているとそのうち逆に他の人から見下されるようになる。
>
> Those who think highly of themselves and look down on others will eventually
> themselves be looked down upon (by others).

I've been puzzling over the choice to put は (instead of が) after 自分. It's the
only は in the sentence and presumably marks the topic. Actually I find the
topic itself unclear, if this was meant as a warning the topic could well be
the listener, or this could just be a general observation of people.

What bothers me most is the usage of は in a subordinate clause (of 思う) and
nowhere else. Is this a sort of shorthand for not stating the topic
explicitly? i.e. could this be reworded as 人は自分が偉いと思って etc?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2013-08-22T03:59:00.910
12612
2020-12-31T08:13:58.253
2020-12-31T08:13:58.253
37097
3848
question
grammar particle-は
Use of は with 自分 in a subordinate clause
I agree with you that が sounds better in this case.

I think what is going on here is some direct/indirect quote confusion, i.e. a
mix of 「私は偉い」と思って and 自分が偉いと思って.

Direct and indirect quotes are less syntactically distinguishable in Japanese
than, say, English, so I'm guessing that this sort of thing is more likely to
happen. As mentioned, I prefer the が too, but might not notice the は in
passing.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-23T02:08:05.170
12623
2013-08-23T02:08:05.170
1073
12612
answer