56757
Can a topic that is identified via the も particle be included in a は topic
that comes AFTER it? e.g. Two sequential sentences from a book I'm reading:

**1st Sentence:** ほかの鳥は、もう、よだかの顔を見ただけでも、いやになってしまうという工合でした。

**2nd Sentence:** たとえば、 **ひばりも**
、あまり美しい鳥ではありませんが、よだかよりは、ずっと上だと思っていましたので、夕方など、よだかにあうと、さもさもいやそうに、しんねりと目をつぶりながら、首をそっぽへ向けるのでした。

... but is ひばり (the skylark) being included in the _previous_ topic (ほかの鳥は) or
the _upcoming_ one (あまり美しい鳥では)?

**Can も mark a topic for inclusion in an (as yet) unintroduced は topic?**
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-17T19:51:19.587
56704
2018-02-20T06:44:45.280
2018-02-18T01:49:27.510
9831
27592
question
particles particle-は particle-も topic
What is the inheritance order of も and は topics?
To me, the も in your example sentence would seem superfluous, as the skylark
is already included in the category of 'other birds'. It would sound like:
'Other birds, for example, including also the skylark'. This makes for an
unnatural sentence. Furthermore, when you are using skylark as the singular
example, there would be no need to add も (for my one example, also the
skylark…).

If you are trying to say ‘even the skylark’ I would use でも. It would help if
you provided a complete (non-fragmented) example of the English sentence that
you wish to convey and the nuance (is it supposed to be stilted dialogue?).

> ほかの鳥は... たとえば, ひばりも, あまり鳥は...

Alternate suggestions:

```

    ほかの鳥、例えば「ひばり」はあまり…
    
    ほかの鳥、ひばり含めて、あまり…
    
    ひばりを含む、ほかの鳥はあまり…
    
```
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2018-02-18T00:26:41.840
56706
2018-02-18T00:26:41.840
27280
56704
answer
* **1st sentence** : ほかの鳥 thought "よだか are ugly birds!"
  * **2nd sentence** : ひばり are not very beautiful, _either_ , but even ひばり thought "We look much better than よだか!"

Here ほかの鳥 refers to all birds which are not よだか. ほかの鳥 includes ひばり, which are
relatively ugly among ほかの鳥 but are much better than よだか.

The topic of the second sentence is ひばり, which is marked with も instead of は
because there are other ugly birds mentioned in the story. あまり美しい鳥 is not the
topic but one of the three predicates of the second sentence: [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)

Read the second sentence like this:

  * **ひばりも、** あまり美しい鳥ではありません。
  * が、 **ひばりも、** 「よだかよりは、ずっと上だ」と思っていました。
  * なので、 **ひばりも、** 夕方など、よだかにあうと、さもさもいやそうに、しんねりと目をつぶりながら、首をそっぽへ向けるのでした。
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-20T06:44:45.280
56757
2018-02-20T06:44:45.280
5010
56704
answer