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Two は in a sentence?

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fuubuu
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: June 12th, 2015 11:38 am

Two は in a sentence?

Postby fuubuu » June 12th, 2015 7:15 pm

...その代わりに、もう片方の情熱はお前の意志は受け継いだとばかりに膨らんでいった。
I thought that if you had already had one は in a sentence, you would have to change the next to a が.
Why is は used in 意志は受け継いだ instead of が?
Thanks!

thegooseking
Expert on Something
Posts: 216
Joined: October 17th, 2008 8:24 pm

Re: Two は in a sentence?

Postby thegooseking » June 13th, 2015 9:23 am

fuubuuさん、

It's true that usually you can only have one は in a sentence, but there are a few exceptions, and this is a very common one.

In this case, we are talking about もう片方の情熱 - the other passion. Normally, this would be followed by a が, but when you are comparing something to something else, が gets changed into a は and vice versa. So the は following お前の意思 is the topic marker, but the は following 片方の情熱 is actually a subject marker in disguise.

小狼

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community.japanese
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Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: Two は in a sentence?

Postby community.japanese » June 13th, 2015 9:34 am

小狼さん、
こんにちは。
そうですね。
は after もう片方の情熱 indicates comparison.

Fuubuu san,
The sentence is actually その代わりに、もう片方の情熱は「お前の意志は受け継いだ」とばかりに膨らんでいった.
お前の意志は受け継いだ is an quotation so it’s used as the original.

Yuki 由紀
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