As a background, consider this question: “[is this sentence correct
会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます.?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/30456)”

My initial thought was like this:

> A sonkeigo (尊敬語) verb is used to show the speaker’s respect toward the
> subject of the verb. Therefore, 会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます would show the respect
> toward the meeting, which is nonsensical because the meeting is not a living
> thing.

But then I started to wonder if a sonkeigo verb can ever be used with an
inanimate subject. [敬語の指針 (2007)](http://keigo.bunka.go.jp/guide.pdf) does not
seem to mention cases like this. After some trial and error, I came up with a
sentence 先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます. This sentence sounds maybe OK to me, but I am
not sure and I would probably say 先生は多岐にわたって活躍されています instead.

To summarize, my questions are:

  1. Is 先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます correct?
  2. If not, can a sonkeigo verb be ever used with an inanimate subject?

# 和訳

話の流れとして、「[is this sentence correct
会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます.?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/30456)」の質問のことを考えます。

私は当初こういうふうに考えていました。

>
> 動詞の尊敬語はその動詞の主語に対する話者の敬意を示す。したがって、「会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます」というのは会議に敬意を示すことになり、会議は生き物ではないので意味が通じない。

しかし後になって、無生物にも尊敬語が使える例はないだろうかと思い、[敬語の指針
(2007)](http://keigo.bunka.go.jp/guide.pdf)
を見たところ、このような用例には言及していないようでした。考えぬいたあげく、「先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます」という文を思いつきました。これなら個人的にはまあそんなに間違ってはいないかなという気もしますが、自分だったら「先生は多岐にわたって活躍されています」と言うと思います。

以上を踏まえて質問です。

  1. 「先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます」は正しい文ですか？
  2. 正しくないとしたら、動詞の尊敬語は無生物主語に対しても使えますか？
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honorifics
Can a sonkeigo verb be used with an inanimate subject? / 尊敬語は無生物主語に対して使えますか？
I think sentence 1 and 先生は多岐にわたって活躍されています are correct.

In addition, I think, as you said, sonkeigo(尊敬語) and kenjyougo(謙譲語) aren't
basically used with inanimate subject but used with actions and teineigo(丁寧語)
is used with them like "です、ます".
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先生のご活躍は多岐に渡っていらっしゃる sounds correct to me.

If a word can be the subject of an honorific verb depends on if the word has
sense of animacy. 先生の活躍 is something that can influence people. That's why it
can be the subject, I believe. On the other hand, 会議 is not the case unless it
stands for a kind of personification of some organization.

Edit: I'm wondering that the reason why 会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます sounds odd is that
the verb is a form of いる, and how 会議は３時からで あらせられます would sound.
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「先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます」 seems OK. Consider these other examples:

  * 「先生のご出身は東京でいらっしゃいます」
  * 「先生のご指摘はごもっともでいらっしゃいます」
  * 「社長の方針は内製化でいらっしゃいます」
  * 「先生の演説は素敵でいらっしゃいました」

While these are odd:

  * 「先生の車はベンツでいらっしゃいます」
  * 「先生のネクタイは素敵でいらっしゃいます」

Assuming my judgments are correct, I think the important part is how
representative the noun is of the honorable person. Someone's origin, opinion,
plan, or speech is representative of them as a person, while someone's car or
necktie is not.

Also, there is this sentence:

  * 「先生の演説は三時からでいらっしゃいます」

I think this one is pretty unclear. While on one hand it's referring to the
honorable person's speech (like before), the speech hasn't actually happened
yet, so it's more referring to _an event_ than the speech contents, so I think
いらっしゃいます can possibly seem weird here.
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In principle, it’s illogical to use honorific verbs for inanimate objects in
Japanese as it is so in English.

I’ll be stunned if I hear some examples given by other
user:「先生のご指摘はごもっともでいらっしゃいます」「社長の方針は内製化でいらっしゃいます」「先生の演説は素敵でいらっしゃいました」. They're
terrible. They're not Japanese at all, at least not proper Japanese.

先生 can be “お元気でいらっしゃる” and "ご多忙でいらっしゃる", but “ご活躍 - activity” can not be
“多岐に渡っていらっしゃる” even if it’s preceded by “先生の.” So,“先生は多岐に渡ってご活躍されています” would
be a logical and proper way of saying.

But this rule – Impropriety of using 敬語 for inanimate object including
abstract nouns such as activity, study, knowledge and objects like desk, pen,
TV set, car, and animals such as dog, elephant and monkey is often overlooked
and violated in today’s conversation.

先生のご活躍は多岐に渡っていらっしゃる sounds awkward and odd to me, though some of you might
overlook its illogicality and take it for granted. If I should pick up better
one from two evils, I would pick up ”先生のご活躍は多岐に渡っておられる” rather than
”先生のご活躍は多岐に渡っていらっしゃる.”
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