17463
I am puzzled by the word ordering in the following sentence:

> そのうちの一つの[箱]{はこ}は私のです。

This sounds unnatural to me, though I was told that this is correct by a
native speaker (who was not able to explain why). Whenever I've encountered
this linking/nominalization/possessive particle before, the nouns were ordered
with increasing specificity. (e.g. 友達の本の名前).

Based on that principle, I would have expected the sentence to read

> その[箱]{はこ}のうちの一つは私のです。

I.e.:

  1. most general: 箱 (box(es)),
  2. more specific 箱のうち (amongst the boxes)
  3. most specific: 箱のうちの一つ (one of the boxes)

What am I missing?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-14T15:30:56.313
17435
2014-06-16T08:05:23.670
4669
question
particle-の
Surprising noun order involving the の particle
Personally, my interpretation of "そのうち" in this case would be "among those
things". Hence, it's referring to a collection of non-descript items that also
happens to include a box among them.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-14T15:59:11.773
17436
2014-06-14T15:59:11.773
4914
17435
answer
If I'm not mistaken, I think there are two acceptable ways to say this in
English, too:

> そのうちの一つの箱は私のです。  
>  One box among those is mine. (more literally) Among those, one box is mine.
>
> その箱のうちの一つは私のです。  
>  One of those boxes is mine.

It's true the former looks slightly less-organized, but the nuance is fairly
small in spoken language.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-16T08:05:23.670
17463
2014-06-16T08:05:23.670
5010
17435
answer