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Attempting to make some flashcards from the dialogue in _Dad of Light_ on
Netflix.

Near the very beginning of Ep1, we have the following:

**夏休みにやることもなく** フローリングの床に寝そべって足の力でクルクル回るという

English subtitles read:

_I had nothing else better to do during summer vacation than lie on the
kitchen floor and turn in circles using my legs._

my question is about やることもなく -- I can think of two ways this could be:

"During summer vacation I did nothing. I was lying on the floor, turning in
circles using my legs."

--or--

"During summer vaction I did nothing _except_ lie on the floor, turning in
circles using my legs."

Can anyone point me toward a resource to understand this usage? I found
something close from user
[Chocolate](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/9831/chocolate)
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/47800/correct-translation-
of-%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%82%82%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-in-this-
sentence/47870#47870).
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2017-11-29T23:26:27.237
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translation
やることもなく ; "doing nothing" or "doing nothing but/except"
> (1) 夏休みにやることもない。そして、フローリングの床に寝そべって  
>  (2) 夏休みにやることも **なく** フローリングの床に寝そべって  
>  "During summer vacation I did nothing. I was lying on the floor, turning in
> circles using my legs."

"point me toward a resource"は出来ませんが、質問者が考えた１番目の案は、(2) ではなく、(1) に対するものです。 (2) は
(1) と違って、「やることも **なく** 」と連用形で終わっていますので、例えば「やることもなく **～する** 」のように用言が続く必要があります。

(2) の例では、「～する」に相当する部分は「（床に）寝そべる」です。

従って、(2) の解釈は質問者が提示した２番目の案だけです。

> "During summer vaction I did nothing except lie on the floor, turning in
> circles using my legs."

因みに、質問者が提示した下記の例は、(1) と同じく終止形「ない」で終わっています。

> (3) ベルが人を突き飛ばすこともない。-- The bell wouldn't ever push people away, either. /
> Nor would it ever push people away.
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answer
I think なく is close to "without".  
So やることもなく is "without even something I want to do."

I interpret the く as a word expressing a state or a circumstance of
someone/something.

for example

> 彼は朝食を食べることなく家を出て行った

If translating it into English, it would be like

> "He left home without having breakfast."

And く is a conjunction. it make us feel a connection to the following clause.  
Your two sentences are very good, but you shouldn't punctuate after く. If I
translate that sentence into English, it would be like this:

> During summer vacation, without even something I want to do I was lying on
> the floor, turning in circles using my legs.

So I mean, く expresses a state in pallarel rather than a cause and result in
order.

I'm so sorry for my bad English.
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2017-11-30T02:41:58.147
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answer
> 夏休みにやることもなく...

means "During summer vacation I _had nothing to do_ , and/so..."

「やること」 → "things to do" "something to do"  
「やることがない」 → "have nothing do to" (≂ 「ヒマだ」 in your context)

cf:  
「話すこと」 → "things to talk about"  
「話すことがない」 → "have nothing to talk about"  
「書くこと」 → "things to write about"  
「書くことがない」 → "have nothing to write about"  
「見るもの」 → "things to see"  
「見るものがない」 → "there's nothing to see"

The continuative form (連用形) な **く** is used here to connect two clauses, like
a conjunction "and" or "so".

* * *

As for the も replacing the が, it's used to indicate...

> も 〘副助*〙  
>  ⓬ さりげなくとりたてて、文意をやわらげる。  
>  「お腹 **も** すいたし、食事にするか」「天気 **も** いいから、散歩でもしよう」  
>  -- from 明鏡国語辞典 (*明鏡 categorizes 係助詞/binding particle as 副助詞/adverbial
> particle)
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answer