86638
> 彼氏の猫に対してアレルギー反応を起こした。  
>  I had an allergic reaction to my boyfriend's cat.

What is the implied subject of 起こす in this sentence? By default I would expect
"I", but " **I** caused an allergic reaction to my boyfriend's cat" would
certainly be a strange thing to say.

The only subject that seems to make sense is "an allergen"; a rather
specialist implied subject.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding how the sentence works. Is there a meaning of 起こす
which would fit here that makes this sentence clearer? Or is there some other
way of thinking about the sentence?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-15T16:15:57.100
86636
2021-05-16T06:09:22.517
7944
question
grammar subjects
起こす implied subject
The subject is "implicit I" (or someone mentioned in the previous context).
Here 起こす is used for some symptom/condition that a person develops
involuntarily, and this is perfectly fine. You can say (彼女は)けいれんを起こした,
(私は)発作を起こした, (彼は)かんしゃくを起こした and so on. See the 6th definition
[here](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E8%B5%B7%E3%81%99/). (By the way,
English "develop" used in similar situations seemed a bit strange to me at
first sight.)

An allergen can 起こす (cause) an allergic reaction, too. If the subject were
アレルゲン, the sentence would be interpreted as "(An allergen) caused an allergic
reaction to my boyfriend's cat". So technically speaking, this sentence is
ambiguous. But this interpretation is highly unlikely unless this was said in
a very rare context.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-16T00:15:45.713
86638
2021-05-16T06:09:22.517
2021-05-16T06:09:22.517
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86636
answer