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From what I understand, すら is commonly used with the negative conjugation
(~ない, ~なかった) of verbs.

For example:

  1. 「ひらがなすら書けない。」 I expected (him) to be able to write hiragana. But even hiragana, (he) can't write.

  2. 「涙すら出なかった。」 I expected tears to fall. But even tears, didn't fall. _(I expect him to cry but he didn't even wept a tear.)_

Basically I was wondering is it grammatical to use すら with the positive
conjugation of a verb?

For example, can 「涙すら出た。」 be considered grammatical, assuming the context is
that the speaker expected "no tears to fall", but indeed "tears did fall"?
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2012-05-27T14:26:42.447
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2012-05-27T23:03:59.513
2012-05-27T23:03:59.513
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question
grammar usage
Can we use すら without negation?
You are right in that
[すら](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%99%E3%82%89&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=0&pagenum=1&index=110536600000)
is often used with negation, but I do not think that it is a hard rule. For
example,

> 彼はドッグフードすら食べる。 He eats even dog food.

But in general, the use of すら itself is rare in the modern Japanese, and さえ is
used more often.

(By the way, I am not sure if you understand the meaning of 涙すら出ない correctly.
Your translation suggests that you consider that it means something like “not
sad enough to weep,” but it usually means “too shocked to weep.”)
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2012-05-27T15:48:11.707
5641
2012-05-27T15:48:11.707
15
5640
answer