ものとして
- 1Deeming or treating a situation as a given fact for procedural purposes, regardless of what actually happened.Ex. 1
- 2Acting or making preparations on the premise that something will turn out to be the case.Ex. 2
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Found mainly in written and formal language, such as official notices, business procedures, regulations and planning. It often states how a case will be handled when some condition applies, as in 'if we hear nothing, we will treat it as…'. Unlike conditionals or statements of inference, it presents an assumption on which the following action is based.
Note that the assumed situation need not be true; ものとして often means something is deemed so for practical or administrative purposes.
Do not attach ものとして directly to a noun or with の; use a form such as である, だった or ではない first.
Learners should not use it simply to report an opinion or guess, since it describes an assumption that an action is based on.
- を前提としてN1They are interchangeable only in the sense of 'assuming, taking as a premise'; they cannot be swapped in the 'treat as' sense. 「を前提として」 attaches to nouns, so a verb needs 「こと／の」, and the preceding item can also be an already-confirmed fact.
- ものと思われるN1「ものと思われる」 is used at the end of a sentence as a mild conjecture, while 「ものとして」 treats or assumes something as established and is followed by an action or handling based on that, with no nuance of conjecture. Both are written-style, but they are not interchangeable.
- とされるN1「とされる」 reports general views or inferences, or states that something is defined as such by rule, functioning as a statement itself; 「ものとして」 regards or assumes a situation as established, with the following clause describing an action taken on that basis. Only the 'treat as' sense is close, and they are generally not interchangeable.
- ことになっているN3「ことになっている」 states rules, customs, or settled arrangements themselves, in a neutral register; 「ものとして」 treats or assumes something as established, with the following clause describing handling based on that, and leans toward written style. They are not interchangeable.
- としたら / とすればN3「としたら／とすれば」 is a hypothetical condition, with the following clause typically a conjecture, question, judgment, or necessary conclusion, in a neutral register; 「ものとして」 is followed by an action or handling taken on that basis, leans toward written style, and is generally not interchangeable with them.
を前提として states a precondition, usually after a noun, while ものとして deems or assumes a situation, often regardless of fact. ものと思われる expresses the speaker's inference, とされる reports a generally held or official view, ことになっている describes an established rule or arrangement, and としたら/とすれば set up a hypothetical leading to a consequence rather than an action already based on an assumption.
