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This is a question taken from a JLPT excercise workbook.

> Person A: 新聞をよく読みますか。
>
> Person B: そうですね。毎日は[Fill in this blank]。

I am given 4 choices, of which only 2 are conjugated correctly.

> Choice 1: 読みます
>
> Choice 2: 読みません

To me it seems both options answer the question, since `そうですね` in this case
should be just a `相槌` (interjection used to indicate that the listener is
still participating in the conversation), and should not be a consideration
factor between Choice 1 and 2.

According to the workbook, Choice 2 is the correct answer. Is there an
explanation for this? Or can I just dismiss this as a poorly constructed
question in the workbook?

* * *

After considering what Dave said about は. I've come up with some explanation.

This question should have been about the disambiguating function of は.

> Person A: Do you read the newspapers **frequently**?
>
> Person B: 毎日は[Fill in the blank].

The domain that A establishes is "frequently"

B is using は to extract 毎日 from "frequently" as a given premise. (Since the
concept of "everyday" is a subset of "frequently")

* * *

This begs the question of why it's wrong when B says the following:

>   1. 毎日読みません
>
>   2. 毎日は読みます
>
>
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2011-07-31T12:40:22.480
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word-choice usage meaning
Does the use of は or omitting は affect the listener's reply?
This is a classic JLPT tricky question.

The presence of `そうですね` is supposed to mislead you. It seems like a positive
agreement, leading to you to think that a positive answer, `読みます【よみます】(to
read)`, is the way to go.

After all, if the answer was _just_ そうですね, then you _could_ translate the
conversation like this:

> Person A: 新聞をよく読みますか。(Do you often read the paper?)
>
> Person B: そうですね。(Yes, I do)

It would seem reasonable at first guess that the answer should have a positive
follow up.

However, as Dave points out in his comment, the `は` is the tip off that there
is a game afoot.

The `は` is there because it's saying something like "as for...". Which would
make the translation using `毎日は読みます` something like, "I do read it a lot. As
for every day, I read it." So that doesn't seem quite right, does it? It's
sort of redundant.

`は`, or "as for..." seems to be creating a sort of comparison, and that's how
we get to the right answer.

A really clunky translation that gives you insight into how the Japanese is
constructed would be "Yes I do. As for _every day_ , I don't read it."

The natural English translation would be more like "Yes, I read it a lot. I
don't read it every day, though."

So the correct answer is the second choice.
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As Dave and Dave M G stated, the answer comes not from そうですね but from 毎日は.

そうですね shows that person B is thinking about the question in a similar way to
“Let me see” in English. It does not mean either “yes” or “no.”

は here distinguishes 毎日 (every day) from other possible choices of frequency.
毎日は might be translated to “as long as ‘every day’ is concerned.”

(新聞を)毎日は読みません means that the speaker does not read newspaper _every day_ , and
it also means that he/she reads newspaper (in less frequency). That is a good
answer to the question “Do you read newspaper often?”

(新聞を)毎日は読みます would mean that the speaker reads newspaper _every day_ , and it
also means that he/she does not read newspaper in greater frequency. But if
you read newspaper every day, you usually count as a regular reader of
newspaper, and there is no point stating that you do not read in greater
frequency (say, once every hour).
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2011-07-31T14:31:17.353
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The question in the workbook is not poorly constructed - choice 2 is indeed
the correct answer. The reason for this is that the は following 毎日 is being
used in a contrastive context.

Person B is, I think, shortening what he is saying. Since the contrastive は
requires two parts to to it, in a form such as

```

    寿司は食べれますが、納豆は食べれません
    
```

If we combine the latter part of person A's question with the first part of
person B's answer, then we can make the first part of person B's answer the
following

```

    そうですね。新聞はよく読みますが、毎日は[Fill in this blank]
    
```

If my reasoning is correct, then this would be the full structure of the reply
that person B is giving, but as is common in Japanese speech, certain parts
can be omitted if they do not really add anything to the conversation. In this
case, the part that does not add anything is 新聞はよく読みますが. This is because
person B is agreeing with the statement that he reads the paper often, even
though he does not explicitly state it in his answer. With that, the first
part of the contrastive は form is not required, and so the answer can be
shortened down to

```

    そうですね。毎日は[Fill in this blank]
    
```

Given that we now know what sort of structure is actually being used behind
the scenes, we can now deduce that the answer is indeed choice 2:

```

    そうですね。毎日は読みません
    
```

Or, in its unshortened state,

```

    そうですね。新聞はよく読みますが、毎日は読みません。
    
```

It seems to me as though the そうですね may be being used as an interjection, but
may also provide a little context in this case - B agreeing that the content
of the question applies to him.

At any rate, I'm not sure if this is the correct thought process for solving
the problem, but it's how I would reach the conclusion that 2 is the correct
answer.
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