47789
> ものすごく酸っぱい梅干しを食べたみたいに顏をしかめて、猛烈に残念がった友蔵{ともぞう}に、「 **何もそこまで**
> 」とおかあさんが、みんなの気持ちを代表して、ボンっとつぶやいた。  
>  Mum, representing everyone's feelings, muttered 何もそこまで to Tomozou who was
> acting as though it ( _what he'd just heard_ ) was terribly bad luck, and
> making a face like he'd eaten a really sour umeboshi.

Literally 何もそこまで means "nothing to that extent". So I get the idea that she is
saying that Tomzou's reaction is a bit extreme. But what does she actually
mean? Is it an instruction telling him to stop taking things too far? Is it
just a comment that she thinks his reaction is excessive? Or something else?
How should 何もそこまで... be completed?
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2017-05-27T13:31:57.953
47784
2017-05-27T16:41:44.623
2017-05-27T13:49:39.723
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question
set-phrases ellipsis
Meaning of "何もそこまで"
> (1)ものすごく酸っぱい梅干しを食べたみたいに顏をしかめて、猛烈に残念がった友蔵｛ともぞう｝
> に、「何もそこまで」とおかあさんが、みんなの気持ちを代表して、ボンっとつぶやいた。

If you omit modifiers in sentence (1), a sentence would remain as:

> (2) 残念がった友蔵｛ともぞう｝に、「何もそこまで」とおかあさんがつぶやいた。

If I add an inffered phrase to phrase 「何もそこまで」, I could get possible two
phrases like:

> (3) 残念がった友蔵｛ともぞう｝に、「何もそこまで **残念がることはないのに** 」とおかあさんがつぶやいた。 (3)'
> 残念がった友蔵｛ともぞう｝に、「何もそこまで **残念がることはないのに何故｛なぜ｝そこまで残念がるの？** 」とおかあさんがつぶやいた。  
>  (4) 残念がった友蔵｛ともぞう｝に、「 **残念がるなら** 何もそこまで **することはなかったのに** 」とおかあさんがつぶやいた。  
>  (4)' 残念がった友蔵｛ともぞう｝に、「 **残念がるなら** 何もそこまで **することはなかったのに何故｛なぜ｝そこまでしたの？**
> 」とおかあさんがつぶやいた。

As for (3) and (3)', the mother referred to Tomozo's reaction affected by the
unwritten cause.  
As for (4) and (4)', the mother referred to the unwritten cause that he did
that affected Tomozo.

(3)' and (4)' are full sentence for (3) and (4) respectively. We usually use
(3) and (4), because the full sentences sound verbose.

As for 何をそこまで, I don't know the grammatical explanation of 何を, but you could
understand 何をそこまで is a set phrase and it could strengthen the meaning of そこまで,
then it could be said as a tentative stressed form of そこまで.
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2017-05-27T14:03:42.310
47786
2017-05-27T14:54:58.853
2017-05-27T14:54:58.853
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answer
This 何も here (which I will call the "protestive 何も") should be differentiated
from the 何も meaning "(not) any".

First, the pitch accents are different (at least in standard Japanese):
なにも{HLL} ("protestive") vs なにも{LHH} ("(not) any")

Second, the protestive 何も always appears at the beginning of a clause, whereas
the (not-)any 何も can appear in various positions.

I labeled this the "protestive '何も'" because it is used when you are
protesting against another person's action that you think is extreme, unfair,
unreasonable, inappropriate , etc.

Some example sentences to help get a better feel of it:

> ちょっとからかっただけで、何も泣くことはないだろう。(It was just a little harmless teasing. Don't cry
> like a little baby.)
>
> 彼は二回遅刻しただけですよね。何もクビにする必要はなかったのでは？ (He was just late for work twice. Did you
> really need to fire him? (Wasn't that a bit extreme?))
>
> プリンを勝手に食べたのは悪いと思うけど、何もそこまで怒ることないじゃん。 (I'm sorry I ate your pudding, but do
> you have to be _so_ mad about it?)

As for "何もそこまで" in question, you could say there's omitted material after it.
In that case, it would be something to the effect of "何もそこまで(残念がることはないでしょう)",
which would translate to "You don't have to look/be so disappointed, don't you
think?" But chances are that お母さん had nothing specific that she left unsaid.
In context, "何もそこまで", without supplementation, was sufficient to convey what
exactly she wanted to say.
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2017-05-27T16:19:20.237
47789
2017-05-27T16:41:44.623
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer