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If you have read Japanese Wikipedia articles such as this one, you will have come across sentences like the following.

この項目を加筆・訂正などしてくださる協力者を求めています

My translation of the sentence goes like this:

We are looking for collaborators who would be so kind as to improve and correct this item.

What stumps me about the sentence is that it contains など. My research indicates that など is attached to nouns. If I try to make a literal translation, I will get something like this.

We are looking for collaborators who would be so kind as to make improvements, corrections and so on for this item.

If I didn't add “for”, the sentence would be grammatically incorrect in English. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but does the sentence really need など in it?

Micheal Gignac
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    The sentence doesn't "need" it, but it gives the nuance that the two aforementioned things are just two of the many things you can contribute to Wikipedia site/articles... "things like", "etc", "and so on" like you mentioned are good ways of looking at it imo. Maybe you want more of a confirmation than an actual explanation? – Felipe Chaves de Oliveira Jan 21 '20 at 02:37
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    I agree with Felipe. など (or 等) is mostly unnecessary when translated into English but it's there in the original Japanese in case there may be other work needed than 加筆 and/or 訂正 only. – DXV Jan 21 '20 at 04:22

1 Answers1

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など can attach to all of the following:

  • A noun

    本などを読む

  • Dictionary form of a (non-suru) verb

    本を読むなどする

    (This is slightly stilted; とか and たり/だり are more common in informal settings)

  • A suru-verb

    読書など(を)する

    (を is optional even in formal sentences)

All suru-verbs are basically also nouns, and など can even attach to ordinary verbs, so I think the last item is not surprising.

By the way, the sentence can be rephrased to この項目の加筆・訂正などをしてくださる協力者を求めています, which is a bit closer to your "literal" English translation (this question is related).

naruto
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  • Thank you very much for your answer! I guess I needed to understand what parts you can attach など to. So, would a more accurate translation of the sentence be something like, “We are looking for collaborators who would be so kind as to improve this item, correct this item and so on.” – Micheal Gignac Jan 22 '20 at 01:00
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    あと、述語というか節全体にもつきますよね。「変色している、異物が混入しているなどありましたら交換いたします」 – broccoli facemask Jan 22 '20 at 05:35