35841
The author is complaining that she hates men's cooking but acknowledges that
somewhere in the world there may be some that she likes. She then says:

> だからただしくは、今まで喰らってきた男の料理を私は好きに **は** なれなかった、と言うべきなんだろう。  
>  However, more accurately, I should probably say that I haven't come to like
> any of the men's cooking that I've eaten up until now.

I don't understand the function of the は in bold. I assume it's contrastive
but I don't see what is being contrasted. I must admit that I'm not 100% happy
with the は in ただしくは either. Perhaps it's related but I don't see how.

In fact the part I would expect to be contrasted, given the context, is 今まで.
That's where I (no doubt wrongly) would have put the は. Confused.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-11T08:48:35.623
35839
2016-06-11T17:38:34.650
2016-06-11T09:06:18.983
7944
7944
question
grammar particle-は
Function of は in にはなる
It modifies 好きになれなかった and adds an emphasis that the statement relates only to
好きに.

To explain by example,

```

    気持ち悪くはなかったけど、ちょっとしんどかった
    美味しくはなかったけど、まずくもなかった
    
```

In both cases は is used to signify that you didn't feel something, but did
feel something else. The effect persists if you just say: `気持ち悪くはなかった` the
implication is that while you didn't feel nauseous, you did feel something
else (probably a bit weak etc. which is inferred from the context).

This effect was then adapted as a softner. For example, to limit the rudeness
of the statement `あの子は賢くない`, you can say `あの子は賢くはない`. Both state the same
thing but the latter is less harsh because it implies there may be some other
redeeming virtues (or to interpret differently, the speaker is implicitly
adding `(I don't know about other aspects so this statement only relates to
the aspect I know which is the kids' intelligence)`.

Back to your example, it acts as a softner. The author might have just added
it solely to soften the sentence, or implies there is some positive feeling
he/she had regarding the cooking (maybe he/she at least felt grateful or
whatever).
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-11T09:28:03.337
35841
2016-06-11T09:28:03.337
499
35839
answer
I would say that は after 好きに is not thematic nor contrastive. Calling it
"emphatic" could be misleading. That は is purely optional, and the nuance of
the sentence will not change a bit without it.

Please read this question and the accepted answer, especially the last
paragraph.

[Why is the topic marker often used in negative statements (ではない,
～とは思わない)?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1077/5010)

> It seems to me that originally, the pattern ～ではない was used to only mark a
> strong contrast of the entire predication to something else (e.g. something
> that was said or implied before by someone else), but later became more and
> more popularized until what originally was a contrast marker became an
> almost necessary feature of the negative form.

This kind of は can be almost necessary in main clauses which is negative, as
discussed in the linked question. But I feel it tends to be often purely
optional in sub-clauses.

>   1. [?] これは彼の本でない。 (a bit unnatural)
>   2. これは彼の本ではない。 (good)
>   3. これは彼の本でない可能性がある。 (good)
>   4. これは彼の本ではない可能性がある。 (good)
>

I can see almost no difference between 3 and 4. To me, neither is more
politer, softer, more formal, etc. than the other.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-11T10:52:07.323
35842
2016-06-11T10:59:23.000
2017-04-13T12:43:44.207
-1
5010
35839
answer
When a verb, adjective or adverb receives は and there doesn't seem to be
anything contrasted with, it's likely that "yes" and "no", "is" and "isn't",
or "do" and "don't" are contrasted. So these expressions often tell reluctant
and/or comparative judgment "yes rather than no" or "no rather than yes".

> 泳げ **は** するが、ちょっと遅い _I **AM** able to swim, just a bit slow_
>
> 少し不自然で **は** あるが、気に **は** ならない _It **does** have some weirdness, but isn't
> **really** distractive_

Usage in ただしくは is more like thematic は; this ただしく won't fit in the sentence
after, but is the overall theme that takes the rest as the rheme. It's
compared to English parenthetic expression such as "to be accurate". cf. 本当は
"to tell the truth", 厳密には "strictly speaking", 基本的には "basically", 私/僕/俺的には
"IMHO; if you ask me" etc.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-11T12:38:02.497
35847
2016-06-11T12:43:41.810
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
7810
35839
answer
は has mainly three usages as topic maker, emphasis, and contrast.

I think は in 私は好きにはなれなかった is used as emphasis because this sentence don't have
the comparable target as you said.

If your sentence is 今までは, this は is used as contrast because 今まで can compare
これから.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-11T17:38:34.650
35855
2016-06-11T17:38:34.650
7320
35839
answer