ともすれば
- 1Indicates that, under certain circumstances, one easily falls into a negative behavior or state.Ex. 1
- 2Describes a general human tendency toward something undesirable.Ex. 2
placed before the predicate as a 副詞 (often after a condition clause with 〜と or 〜ば) Variant: ともすると (same meaning)
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Somewhat literary; common in essays, commentary and formal speech about human nature or risky tendencies. It works as an adverb that reinforces a tendency expression later in the sentence, such as 〜がちだ, 〜やすい or 〜てしまう.
Do not use ともすれば for positive or neutral tendencies; it implies drifting into something undesirable.
Note that ともすれば usually needs a tendency expression like 〜がちだ or 〜てしまう later in the sentence.
Learners should avoid using it for a single past event, since it describes a recurring or general inclination.
- 〜がちだN3「〜がちだ」 attaches to a verb's masu-stem or a noun and directly expresses a tendency in a neutral register, whereas 「ともすれば」 is a written-style adverb that merely signals the tendency from before the predicate. The two often combine as 「ともすれば〜がちだ」 and cannot replace each other.
- 嫌いがあるN1「嫌いがある」 is a sentence-final predicate form that attaches to a verb's dictionary form, its ない form, or 「noun＋の」, and it focuses on pointing out a flaw in the essential nature of a person or thing; 「ともすれば」 is an adverb that only signals a tendency before the predicate. The two cannot be interchanged but are often used together.
- ぎみN3「ぎみ」 is a suffix attached to nouns, verb masu-stems, and i-adjective stems, indicating that an undesirable state or trend has begun to show slightly, in a neutral register; 「ともすれば」 is a written-style adverb signaling a tendency one easily falls into repeatedly. They cannot be interchanged.
- っぽいN3「っぽい」 is close to 「ともすれば」 only in the 'tends to ~ at every turn' sense, but it is a colloquial suffix that attaches to a verb's masu-stem to form an adjective describing a character trait (e.g., 「忘れっぽい」), while 「ともすれば」 is a written-style adverb placed before the predicate. They cannot be interchanged.
- やすいN4「やすい」 attaches to the masu-stem to form an adjective and can also mean an action is easy to do, with either a positive or negative nuance; 「ともすれば」 is an adverb that only signals negative tendencies and leans toward written style. They cannot be interchanged and often combine as 「ともすれば～やすい」.
〜がちだ, 嫌いがある and やすい are predicate endings that express the tendency itself, and ともすれば often appears alongside them as an adverb to reinforce it. ぎみ describes a slight present condition and っぽい is a casual 'somewhat like' suffix, so neither matches the literary 'all too easily' nuance of ともすれば.
