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I'm attempting to read a book and I don't understand the grammar 100% here.

> ジャックはもうすぐ九歳。本を読んだり、自然を観察したりするのが大好きな男の子だ。

Overall, I believe it means:

> Jack will soon be 9 years old. A lovable boy that reads and watches nature.

But, I don't understand why the second sentence does not end like:

> 本を読んだり、自然を観察したりする大好きな男の子だ。(No が particle at all
>
> A lovable boy who reads and watches nature.
>
> OR
>
> 大好きな男の子が本を読んだり、自然を観察したりする。(が particle moved to the front)
>
> A lovable boy that reads and watches nature.

How does the grammar work on the second sentence here? I know that
本を読んだり、自然を観察したりする is being nominalized and then it becomes a noun, which makes
it usable by が. But I do not understand how its connection with 大好きな男の子 works.
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2019-01-28T04:11:40.533
65119
2019-02-06T02:29:21.573
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
30339
question
grammar relative-clauses nominalization
Nominalized verb and connection to noun after が particle
I think you've misunderstood the sentence because of the ambiguities in the
form `Aが好きなBだ`.

For example,

> 犬が好きな人だ

can mean both that `(I am) a person that likes dogs` as well as `(I am) a
person that dogs like` depending on the context (although I think it's most
likely to be interpreted in the former way).

However,

> 寿司が好きな人だ

can only mean `(I am) a person that likes sushi`. After all, it would be
completely ridiculous that sushi could have the willpower to like a person
unless this was some weird science fiction.

Your example is similar to this latter example. It would be absurd if the act
of reading books/watching nature could love a person.

Therefore, the only way the second sentence can be understood is as:

> A boy that loves to read books and watch nature.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-28T05:07:01.670
65122
2019-01-28T18:41:58.033
2019-01-28T18:41:58.033
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65119
answer