Why is 養子だったはずだ instead of 養子のはずだ used here? やはり……目鼻立ちというか、雰囲気が、士道に似ている。 だが、士道に妹は一人しかいなかったはずだ。 会話を交わしたことがなかったが、何度か見たことがある。五河琴里。言わずもがな、真那とは别人である。 だが、折紙データベースによると、確か士道は養子だったはずだ。彼女が本当に士道の妹である可能性も、完全には否定できなかった。 Hi. This text is narrated from the viewpoint of 折紙, who thought 真那 looked like 士道, so they might be true brother and sister. But 士道 already had a sister, 五河琴里. My question is as follows: Why is 養子だったはずだ instead of 養子のはずだ used here? And why is 士道に妹は一人しかいなかったはずだ instead of 士道に妹は一人しかいないはずだ used here? Thank you.

Why are ってのは/というのは used here? How is it different from just は? 1. 彼女が空を飛べるというのはわかっているのだが…… 2.「ただまあ、彼はまさにいま人生を棒に振っちゃってるわけでして」 刑事はしゃがみ込む。目を細めて柱を見ている。 「そこまでして会いたい子がいるってのは、私なんかにゃ、なんだか羨ましい気もしますな」 3. 「どうしたんだ、今日は。もう検査とかってのは終わったのか？」 Hi. I have three examples of というのは here. I’m not sure why they are used in these situations and how they are different from just は. Could you please explain it in detail? Thank you.

Does the underlined part mean no little girl sounded more scared than Brienne? “Your Gr—no!” cried Brienne the Blue when she saw that evil flow, _sounding as scared as any little girl._ Excerpt From A Clash of Kings Hi. Does the underlined part mean no little girl sounded more scared than Brienne? Thank you.

as black a pirate as? Euron. Crow’s Eye, they call him, as black a pirate as ever raised a sail. Hi. I know this sentence is equivalent to “Euron is as black as any other pirate who has ever raised a sail”, which means he is as black as the blackest/he is one of the blackest pirate. But I wonder why it has a superlative meaning here? Why we can’t just interpret it as “pirates are generally black/evil. So is Euron”? Thank you.

Hi. I wonder if both sentences can be interpreted in the same way? 1. His eyelashes were as long as any woman’s. 2. She steers a ship as well as any man and has a pretty face. Excerpt From A Dance with Dragons George R.R. Martin Hi. I wonder if both sentences can be interpreted in the same way? Namely, for the first sentence, his eyelashes were on a par with the longest woman’s eyelashes. Or no woman’s eyelashes were longer than his. For the second, no man steers a ship better than her, though there maybe men steer a ship equally well as her. Thank you.

How does “shift his grip” look like? He could not have said when the devotions ended. Perhaps he slept, still standing. When the devout had filed out, the Great Sept grew still once more. The candles were a wall of stars burning in the darkness, though the air was rank with death. Jaime shifted his grip upon the golden greatsword. (A Feast for Crows) Hi. Jamie has only one hand so I don’t understand how he can shift his grip. How does “shift his grip” look like when he has only one hand? Thank you.