OR or OR? That is the question!

[Annatar]

I would be grateful, if you could explain how to express alternative in affirmative sentences, i.e. how to say "or".

I already know how to express alternative in interrogative sentences:

e.g.:　あの車は高いですか、それとも安いですか。- Is that car expensive or cheap?

However, I would be obliged, if you could indicate how to say the following:

(1) You may take the pen OR the pencil.

(2) He took five OR six jotters.

Thank you in advance.

[j_bertoni2279]

本を五六冊とった。

He took 5 or 6 books.

ペンとか鉛筆をとってもいい

It's okay to take a pen or pencil.

Did you mean to emphasize that the person may only take one?

ペンとか鉛筆を一本とってもいい

That might be okay. There's lot of alternatives, in any case. These examples should get the message across, but depending on the context, they might not be appropriate.

[Annatar]

You save me once again, j_bertoni2279.

However, could you, please, specify the grammatical nature of "とか". Is it a conjunction or is it a special type of non-final alternative case.

Well, it is very like "と"

In your example one can make the following analysis:

[ (ペンとか鉛筆) ]をとってもいい。- It is OK to take a pen OR a pencil.

Both nouns are direct objects.

The block in rectangular brackets " [ ] " can easily take "と"

e.g.

[ (ペンと鉛筆) ]をとってもいい。- It is OK to take a pen AND a pencil.

Another question. What is the style status of "とか"? Is it neutral-polite (東京に行きます) or is colloquial (東京に行く)?

Sorry to be meticulous, but when dealing with a developed grammatical system it is better to know exactly what is there.

Thank you again.

[j_bertoni2279]

“とか" is a conjunction, just like “と”. It doesn't have a politeness level, and can appear in any type of speech. You might want to check out the "Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar". It might be very useful to you.

[Jessi]

If you are looking for a word that means "or" (used between nouns), I think か is what you are looking for. か comes after nouns when you are listening alternatives.
りんごかオレンジ... "apples OR oranges"

とか is used after nouns when making an incomplete list.
りんごとかオレンジとか... "apples, oranges, and so on..."

I hope this helps

[Annatar]

Thank you j_bertoni2279 and Jessi.

I do have a copy of "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar". What I wanted to know was the first hand experience. Thanks for that.

I would also like to know, if there is a book/books of grammatical exercises to go with "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" to practice various grammatical structures.

I have been having some trouble with finding a worthwhile one. And the presence of the keys to the exercises would be a bonus (I study Japanese without a recourse to a teacher, see).

Thank you again.

[j_bertoni2279]

I don't know of any such book.