61070
I was reading a light novel and saw this sentence describing how it feels like
in a forest.

> 緩やかな風で森がざわめく音だけが、闇を飾るように聞こえてくる。

I understand every word in it, but I am confused as to what sounds can be
heard.

To me, it is not clear what だけ modifies, does this mean:

  * 聞こえる音はただ一つ、緩やかな風で森がざわめく音だ or;
  * 他の音も聞こえるが、 **闇を飾るように** ではなく、他のように聞こえる。つまり、緩やかな風で森がざわめく音だけが闇を飾る。他の音は闇を飾らない

Which interpretation is correct? Or are both correct?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-24T07:49:54.927
61069
2018-08-24T11:48:47.350
18200
question
grammar meaning interpretation
How to interpret 緩やかな風で森がざわめく音だけが、闇を飾るように聞こえてくる。
Both interpretations are technically possible, but only the former seems
natural to me. This is a dark and relatively silent forest, isn't it? 闇を飾るように
is a fairly vague and poetic expression and I have never tried to distinguish
sounds according to such a criterion. If it were something like
森がざわめく音だけが前から聞こえてくる, the sentence might seem ambiguous and there might be
other sound sources behind you.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-24T07:56:50.567
61070
2018-08-24T11:48:47.350
2018-08-24T11:48:47.350
9831
5010
61069
answer