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I'm (still) reading [metamorphosis (by
Kafka)](http://bilinguis.com/book/metamorphosis/jp/en/c1/) and am having
trouble with the following

> 店の小使は五時の汽車に彼が乗るものと思って待っていて、彼が遅れたことをとっくに報告してしまっているはずだ

For more context : the narrator wakes up being a bug and is worried that he is
going to be late for work (!). The whole sentence is

>
> そして、たとい汽車に間に合ったとしてさえ、店主の雷かみなりは避けることができないのだ。というのは、店の小使は五時の汽車に彼が乗るものと思って待っていて、彼が遅れたことをとっくに報告してしまっているはずだ。あの男は店主の手先で、背骨もなければ分別もない

And is translated by

> And even if he caught the train, there was no avoiding a blow up with the
> boss, because the firm's errand boy would've waited for the five o'clock
> train and reported the news of his absence long ago

  1. About 五時の汽車に meaning "the five o'clock train". I suppose に is used to indicate a point in time ? Would 五時の汽車 be ungrammatical ?

  2. I can't figure out the meaning of 乗るものと思って待っていて. Is 思う used with its "to think" meaning and 待つ with "to wait" meaning ? For now i understand this part as "waiting and thinking about getting onboard"...

  3. Is 遅れたことをとっくに a case of A を B に construct ? I red [about it](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/24466/can-you-make-an-adverb-from-a-noun-by-adding-%e3%81%ab/24472#24472) but can't figure out how to translate it here. The whole clause 彼が遅れたことをとっくに報告してしまっているはずだ is difficult to me. I suppose してしまっている could be used as "to transform A into B" ?

Thanks
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2021-05-28T10:02:51.510
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2021-05-28T13:07:25.477
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question
grammar sentence
Making sense of 店の小使は五時の汽車に彼が乗るものと思って待っていて、彼が遅れたことをとっくに報告してしまっているはずだ
1. に collocates with 乗る. It cannot be omitted.

  2. The narrator speculates (with はず) that both the state of “waiting, on the assumption (or thinking) that he would take the five-o’clock train” (五時の汽車に彼が乗るものと思って待っている) and that of “having already reported that he was late” (彼が遅れたことをとっくに報告してしまっている) are true about the errand boy.

  3. とっくに is an adverb. 彼が遅れたことを報告する is the main part and it has undergone the following transformation.

>   1. （店の小使が）彼が遅れたことを報告する
>   2. （店の小使が）彼が遅れたことを報告してしまう
>   3. （店の小使が）彼が遅れたことを報告してしまっている
>

しまう adds a sense of regret, completeness, or both.

ている in this context describes a completed state.
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answer