19034
I have a question about the usage of 滅多に. As far as I know, when it's followed
by negation it means 'rarely'. For example -

> めったにたばこを吸わない。 I rarely smoke.

However I'm not sure if I'm understanding it correctly in the sentences below,
I can't understand what exactly 滅多に modifies, あるものではない/ものじゃない?

> 大きな喜びは、そう滅多にあるものではない。
>
> A great pleasure is not something that happens often.

or

> 飛行機事故なんて滅多におきるものじゃない
>
> Plane crash is pretty rare occasion.
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2014-10-10T19:16:56.840
19033
2014-10-11T08:36:16.247
2014-10-11T08:36:16.247
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question
grammar
What does 滅多に modify in these sentences?
That's a good question. I think that 滅多に doesn't modify ある by itself; I also
think it doesn't directly modify ではない. Rather, I think that, at least for 滅多に,
the whole phrase あるものではない pretends to be a negative of ある.
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2014-10-10T19:41:50.823
19034
2014-10-10T19:41:50.823
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19033
answer