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"Glasses suit her well."

What I'm reading is 彼女は結構めがねが似合うね. This looks to me like 結構 is modifying めがね.

Wouldn't it make more sense this way? 彼女はめがねが結構似合うね.

Thanks.

charlemagne
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1 Answers1

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[彼女]{かのじょ}は[結構]{けっこう}めがねが[似合]{にあ}うね。
[彼女]{かのじょ}はめがねが[結構]{けっこう}[似合]{にあ}うね。

Both are correct and natural. [結構]{けっこう} is an adverb here, and modifies the verb 似合う. Japanese word order is far more flexible than that of English. You could also rephrase the sentence as:

[結構]{けっこう}[彼女]{かのじょ}はめがねが[似合]{にあ}うね。

Related: Word order and emphasis with たくさん

Chocolate
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  • ♦ How can you tell what 結構 is modifying if it doesn't take a particle and it can appear in any order? – charlemagne Jun 27 '20 at 21:50
  • ♦ I just read your link -- so an adverb literally just modifies the very first verb that follows it? – charlemagne Jun 27 '20 at 21:54
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    @charle, In short, simple sentences, the adverbs of 程度 (degree/extent) such as すごく, かなり, 非常に etc. can more commonly appear right before the verb (似合う in your example) or before the verb phrase (メガネが似合う in your example), or sometimes at the beginning of a sentence (彼女は眼鏡が似合う in your example). Same usually goes with the adverbs of 頻度 such as ときどき, よく, めったに etc. – Chocolate Jun 28 '20 at 01:12
  • ♦ Thanks for your help. One more question -- is there no difference in nuance or meaning among those three variations? – charlemagne Jun 28 '20 at 02:20