Vocabulary, Idiom, and Grammar in Context
Kyoto does not publish a word list; vocabulary and idiom are tested inside the reading and translation passages, and grammar is tested through accurate Japanese renderings and English production.
What to learn
- Collocations: draw a distinction, raise a question, hold true, take account of.
- Contrastive idioms: anything but = not at all; nothing but = only; not a little = very; no little = considerable.
- Grammar that changes meaning: subjunctive were it not for, inversion seldom have I, participle clauses, comparison no more than, not so much A as B.
- Phrasal verbs in context: account for, bear out, rule out.
Worked example
Sentence: "The reform was anything but popular." Reasoning: anything but means "not at all," so the sentence means the reform was very unpopular-not "anything except popular" in a neutral sense. Japanese: 「その改革は決して好評ではなかった」. If the sentence were nothing but popular, it would mean "only popular."
Traps
- Reading anything but as "anything except" and reversing the meaning.
- Confusing not a little with "not a bit."
- Ignoring the grammar of not so much A as B: B is the real point.
- Learning idioms as isolated Japanese equivalents without a sentence frame.
Method
Keep a context notebook: record the whole sentence, its meaning, and one original sentence. Test yourself by covering the Japanese.