Page 474 - Makino,Tsutusi.DictionaryOfIntermediateJGrammar

400 sb ka to itte
cases where an implicitly negative predicate is used as shown in the fol-
lowing:
(1) a. Zn@i&c~bGbl/r~sf, -Fid.ttqT, flQj&-j-~
kt.$fP'fi'fi"Q Lo
(I don't like this town, but it costs a lot of money to move,
so . . .)
*tLDt9 t*
b. % b cA?L~\V P, +?j *~'SQ T, @-Ab=B+27dj'Cfb
fi%' ?
(We are busy, but how can we leave the work to him
alone?)

The predicates kane ga kakaru 'it costs a lot of money' and makasete
okerukai, a rhetorical question in informal male speech meaning 'we
cannot leave it to him,' are cases of an implicitly negative predicate.

Sb ka to itte used in sentence-initial position as in KS(A) and Exs.(a) - (e)
can be replaced by disjunctive conjunctions such as keredo(mo), shikashi,
(s6) desu ga. The same phrase used in non-sentence-initial position as in
KS(B), Exs.(f) and (g) cannot be replaced by such conjunctions.

Disjunctive conjunctions such as keredo(mo), shikashi, etc. cannot be
replaced by the structure in question unless sb ka to itte satisfies the condi-
tion mentioned in Note 1 above. The following example sentences all
explain this point.
[3] A: Za)7/\"- b i s < Tblb~bO
(This apartment is spacious and nice.)