Party Shopping: Counters and Quantity Words Under a Shortage
Class 2A is holding a farewell party for 12 students and 2 teachers. Kenji has a shopping memo with blanks: 紙皿 20＿＿, コップ 20＿＿, ジュース 6＿＿, ケーキ 14＿＿, パソコン 3＿＿. The classroom cupboard contains only 8 paper cups and 4 bottles of juice, but there are 30 paper plates. The party starts at 4:00 and the shop closes at 3:00, so everything must be bought during the lunch break. Kenji's teacher asks him to write each quantity with the right counter, to add one sentence showing a shortage and one showing a surplus, and to choose between 「ケーキを買っておきます」 and 「ケーキを買ってしまいます」 for the memo.
1. Assign a counter to each of the five items and explain the feature of the object that decides the counter.
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紙皿 20枚 - flat, thin things. コップ 20個 - small separate objects. ジュース 6本 - long cylindrical bottles. ケーキ 14個 - small items or portions. パソコン 3台 - machines and equipment. The counter follows shape and function, not the English word: a plate is flat (枚), a bottle is long (本), and a machine is 台 even though it is also a single object. This is why コップ cannot take 枚 and 紙皿 cannot take 台.
2. Write the shortage sentences for cups and juice using しか〜ない, and one surplus sentence using も. Explain how the numbers decide which pattern is possible.
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Need 20 cups, have 8: コップは8個しかありません。Need 6 bottles, have 4: ジュースは4本しかありません。Plates: 紙皿は30枚もあります。The comparison of need and supply decides the pattern. しか must be followed by a negative and presents the amount as insufficient. も presents the amount as surprisingly large. With 8 cups against 20 needed, も would wrongly suggest plenty, so the numbers, not the noun, control the choice.
3. Choose between 「ケーキを買っておきます」 and 「ケーキを買ってしまいます」, given the 3:00 closing time, and justify with the meaning of each form.
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買っておきます is correct. ておく means doing something in advance for a later purpose; the shop closes at 3:00 and the party is at 4:00, so buying now is preparation. てしまう presents an action as finished, often with a nuance of regret or an unintended result, as in ケーキを買いすぎてしまいました. A planned purchase before a deadline is preparation, not a mishap, so the closing time is the clue that settles the choice.