13355
I have the sentence in my book: 昔は、若い女性が男性と二人で出かけようものなら、町中のうわさになったものだ。

I was wondering if this means that it is possible to modify nouns with the
volitional form. I have so far heard that it isn't, which makes this grammar
point confusing. Could someone give me an explanation as to how to understand
~ようものなら in the above sentence? Is it like, "If women WISHED to go out with
men..."? Or does the volitional have some other interpretation here?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-06T03:29:36.197
13352
2013-11-06T07:57:05.787
3754
question
grammar
How come the よう in ~ようものなら can modify a noun?
Again, ものなら is one word. It is a conjunctive particle that has the same
meaning as ～～としたら = "if one were to try ~~ing".

"In the old days, if a young woman were to try going out with a man just the
two of them, it would be the talk of the town."

SVP DO NOT take my English TL too literally; English is my worst language.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-06T07:57:05.787
13355
2013-11-06T07:57:05.787
13352
answer