Page 446 - Makino,Tsutusi.DictionaryOfIntermediateJGrammar

372 sai (ni)

1. - sai (ni) is used to indicate a special occasion on which s.0. does s.t.
So, the phrase cannot be used on common occasions as in (1) and (2).
t b
(1) @&32 W/*EI Efl&97&
(When I got up in the morning I had a fever.)
1% SA29 L+
(2) a. BPfi8~jT91: (@/*El $-B-W6V:,
(When I went to the library I checked out 3 books.)
IfA$*iD
b. @f%gB % b,9T!3EH$%!&%~??97: (@/El, $-??
y:w,s & Lpo
(When I received research money and went to the National
Diet Library I checked out a dozen books.)
Notice that the occasion of going to the library is far more special in
(2b) than in (2a). That is why sai is acceptable in (2b) but not in (2a).
2. Only Vinf or N or demonstrative adjectives kono, sono, ano can be used
before sai ni. Vinf . nonpast and Vinf . past indicate incompletion and
completion, respectively, in relation to the action in the main clause.
Kono sai as exemplified by Ex.(h) can be used only when the occasion
is special.
3. The particle ni of sai ni may be dropped. When ni is dropped as in Ex.(i),
the focus shifts from the occasion to what is described in the main
clause.
4. - sai ni is a formal expression that is often used with Sino-Japanese
words, as shown in all the KS and Exs. except Ex.(f). Notice that in
Ex.(f), an honorific-polite Japanese verb is used. In the following sen-
tences in which neither a Sino-Japanese verb / noun nor a honorific-
polite verb is used sai ni is unacceptable.