N3 用法: Is This Word Being Used Correctly?
用法（ようほう, "usage" — 5 items）is the connoisseur's vocabulary question: one target word, four sentences, and only ONE uses the word naturally. The other three are engineered near-misses — right ballpark, wrong lane. 用法 punishes translation-based learning ("我慢 = endure, so it works anywhere endure works" — it doesn't!) and rewards knowing each word's range: what it attaches to, who does it, and what it cannot say. This chapter teaches the attack method and profiles the twenty most-tested N3 usage words.
1. The Attack Method
- Profile the word before reading the sentences. Ask three questions: (a) What kind of subject/object does it take (person? thing? time? place?)? (b) Is it positive/negative/neutral in feeling? (c) What's its signature partner phrase?
- Test each sentence against the profile — not against "does the translation fit." The wrong sentences usually violate exactly one profile rule (wrong object type, wrong feeling, wrong register).
- Confirm the winner by ear: if you've learned words in sentences, the correct sentence will "ring" — the others clunk.
2. The N3 Usage Word Profiles
| Word | Range (what it CAN say) | The trap (what it can't) |
|---|---|---|
| 夢中（むちゅう） | に夢中になる — absorbed in an activity/person | not physical states: ×眠さに夢中 |
| 募集（ぼしゅう） | organizations recruit people/entries: 店員を募集する | not personal seeking: ×友達を募集する → 探す |
| 我慢（がまん） | endure something unpleasant: 痛みを我慢する | not "try hard": ×勉強を我慢する → 頑張る |
| 似合う（にあう） | clothes/styles suit a person: 君に似合う | not resemblance: ×兄に似合っている → 似ている |
| 届く（とどく） | things arrive/reach: 荷物が届く、手が届く | people arriving: ×私が届く → 着く |
| 経つ（たつ） | only TIME passes: 3年が経つ | people/vehicles passing: ×車が経つ → 通る |
| あわてる | flustered by something sudden: 火事であわてる | planned hurry: ×毎朝あわてて運動する → 急ぐ |
| 頼る（たよる） | depend on for support: 親に頼る | one concrete request: ×コピーを頼る → 頼む |
| 詰まる（つまる） | blocked/packed: 鼻が詰まる、予定が詰まっている | crowded with people: ×店が詰まっている → 混んでいる |
| 破れる（やぶれる） | paper/cloth tears: 紙が破れる | glass: ×コップが破れる → 割れる; machines → 壊れる |
| 渋滞（じゅうたい） | TRAFFIC congestion: 道路が渋滞する | crowded places: ×店内が渋滞 → 混雑 |
| 混雑（こんざつ） | places crowded with people: 駅が混雑する | schedules: ×予定が混雑 → 詰まっている |
| 面倒（めんどう） | troublesome chores: 手続きが面倒だ; 面倒を見る = look after | intellectually hard: ×この問題は面倒で解けない → 難しい |
| 得意（とくい） | one's own strong point: 得意な料理 | mere liking: liking ≠ being good at; others' skill → 上手 |
| 苦手（にがて） | bad at / can't deal with: 数学が苦手、あの人が苦手 | —（wider than 嫌い: includes "can't handle"） |
| 余る（あまる） | left over after use: 料理が余った | people/time remaining behind: ×教室に余る → 残る |
| 落ち着く（おちつく） | calm down; settle: 気持ちが落ち着く、新しい町に落ち着く | physically sitting: ×いすに落ち着いてください → 座って |
| 気に入る（きにいる） | take a liking to something specific: この店が気に入った | general preference: ×私は音楽が気に入りです → 好きです |
| 見送る（みおくる） | see someone off: 駅まで見送る;（business）postpone | just watching: ×テレビを見送る → 見る |
| 履く（はく） | wear below the waist: ズボン・靴を履く | torso ×シャツを履く → 着る; head → かぶる |
3. Anatomy of a 用法 Item
我慢
① 弟は毎日サッカーの練習を我慢している。
② 頭が痛かったが、薬がなかったので我慢した。
③ 明日の試験のために、今夜は我慢して勉強するつもりだ。
④ 彼は約束の時間を我慢しないで、早く来た。
Walkthrough with the profile: 我慢 = endure something UNPLEASANT that you'd rather stop. ① misuses it as "persist at practice" (that's 頑張る — practice isn't framed as suffering to suppress); ③ same trap ("endure and study" → 頑張って勉強する); ④ is nonsense with time. ② endures a headache without medicine — unpleasant, suppressed. Answer ②. Notice: all four sentences are grammatical! 用法 errors are semantic, which is why translation-thinking fails.
4. The Five Violation Types
Name the violation and the wrong sentences fall fast:
- Wrong object class: 経つ with non-time; 破れる with glass; 履く with shirts.
- Wrong subject type: 募集 by an individual for friends; 届く with a person subject.
- Wrong feeling polarity: 我慢 for positive effort; 面倒 for respectful difficulty.
- Neighbor-word theft: the sentence really wants the word's close cousin (頼る/頼む, 余る/残る, 渋滞/混雑, 似合う/似ている) — the most common violation of all.
- Fixed-phrase break: the word lives in an idiom the sentence mangles: 面倒を見る, 気に入る, 手が届く.
5. How to Study for 用法 (It's Different!)
- Learn boundaries, not glosses. For every "tricky" word, record one ○ sentence AND one × sentence with its correction: ×友達を募集 → ○友達を探す. The × sentence is the real lesson.
- Cousin clusters: study near-synonyms side by side and articulate the split in one line each (渋滞=roads, 混雑=places; 余る=leftover stuff, 残る=remaining people/time).
- Mine your mistakes from 文脈規定 practice — the same word ranges power both question types; 用法 is 文脈規定 inverted.
Summary & Key Takeaways
- 用法 (5 items): pick the ONE sentence using the target word naturally; all options are grammatical — the errors are in word RANGE.
- Attack method: profile the word (subject/object class, feeling, partner phrase) → test sentences against the profile → confirm by ear.
- Master the twenty profiles above — especially the cousin splits: 頼る/頼む, 余る/残る, 渋滞/混雑, 似合う/似ている, 破れる/割れる/壊れる, 我慢/頑張る.
- Study with ×-and-correction pairs; the wrong sentence teaches more than the right one.
- Five violation types: wrong object, wrong subject, wrong feeling, cousin-theft, broken idiom — name it to kill it.