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I was learning about 限らない and encounter this particular sentence.

社長の意見が必ずしも正しいとは限らない

I'm pretty sure that the meaning would be
"Manager's opinion is not always right"

But if I check the dictionary entry for 必ずしも it means "not always".
How come then 社長の意見が必ずしも正しい means "Manager's opinion is always correct"?

Alice28
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2 Answers2

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I think that 必ずしも is like 必ず but just used for negative sentences. I am pretty sure that 必ずしも must be used with a negative verb, which inevitably makes it mean "not always". It is the fact that it is combined with "限らない" that makes it that way, and not by itself.

stack reader
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    Correct. Here's the dictionary entry if you want to add heft to your answer: http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/101093/meaning/m0u/ – bright-star Dec 27 '16 at 07:56
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I'm a little bit confused, so the following my answers are simple. Correct: "社長の意見が必ずしも正しいとは限らない" correspond to "Manager's opinion is not always right." or "Company president's opinion is not always right." Wrong: "社長の意見が必ずしも正しい" (This Japanese sentence should be "社長の意見は必ず正しい") Correct: "社長の意見は必ず正しい" correspond to "Manager's opinion always right." (I can't agree with this opinion!)

"社長" means the top management. In Japanese "管理職（管理者）manager" means "課長、次長、部長、本部長、取締役、常務取締役、専務取締役、代表取締役社長" So "The business term "Manager" not always mean the top managemet of the company. It often means middle calss of management."

Sonny365 TANAKA
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  • The sentence is from a text book reference, so there shouldn't be any problem with the sentence. I just need help to understand the meaning :) Regarding the 社長, yes I agree that my translation of "manager" is not correct. – Alice28 Dec 27 '16 at 08:33