Abstract
Ichikawa (1997) and Mizutani (1994) noted that Japanese learners often misuse nittote and nitaishite. This paper explores the reasoning behind the usage of nitotte and nitaishite by Japanese learners. Firstly, some Japanese learners were asked to make some sentences with no specified word and some with specified words, choose between nitotte and nitaishite and choose phrases that follow nitotte or nitaishite. After which, interviews were conducted. The results suggest that (1) nitaishite is often used instead of nitotte in descriptive sentences containing adjectives that have corresponding antonyms, (2) nitaishite has an impersonal connotation and (3) nitotte is often applied to people while nitaishite is often applied to things and events.
