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I was going through a JLPT grammar practice book and am confused on a
question:

「一郎、まだ起きているかな。」

「部屋の電気が消えているから、もう＿＿＿＿＿よ。」

I choose 寝そう since ～そう is often used to make conjectures based on visual info
(Ichiro's light is off). But the answer key says 寝たよう is better. Any thoughts
on why?
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2017-10-22T20:19:08.693
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2017-10-23T12:44:03.373
2017-10-22T22:58:28.923
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question
grammar word-choice jlpt auxiliaries
Why 寝たよう instead of 寝そう in this example
「寝{ね}そう」 = " _ **It looks like someone is about to go asleep**_ " The person
is still awake, officially.

「寝たよう」 = " _ **It seems one has just gone asleep/gone to bed**_." As far as
you can tell, the person is already asleep.

Thus, the two phrases describe very different situations.

> 「一郎{いちろう}、まだ起{お}きているかな。」 "Would Ichiro be still up?"
>
> 「部屋{へや}の電気{でんき}が消{き}えているから、もう＿＿＿＿＿よ。」 "_______ because the room lights are
> off."

The correct answer should clearly be 「もう寝たようよ」.
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2017-10-22T21:25:23.280
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2017-10-22T21:36:21.327
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer
I think l'électeur's answer is perfect.

If I could add some information for bjorn's comment with "... at other times
means more like the action of falling asleep or going to sleep" I would give
the following question to OP. In this question OP could use 寝{ね}そう as a
correct answer.

> 「一郎、まだ起きているかな。」  
>  「部屋｛へや｝の電気｛でんき｝が（今{いま}）消｛き｝えたから、もう＿＿＿＿＿よ。」"＿＿＿＿＿because the lights of the
> room have just gone out."
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answer