6.3 表現読解: Choosing the Right Honorific Form

6.3 表現読解: Choosing the Right Honorific Form

Section 2 of Part 3 (表現読解問題) tests honorific and business-expression choice. The format is identical to Section 1 — one sentence, one blank, four options — but the options are keigo forms (尊敬語, 謙譲語, 丁寧語) or business set phrases. The official sample is 「打ち合わせのあと、よろしければ、お食事でも[ ]」 with options いかがですか, いただきますか, あげましょうか, めしあがりましょうか. The correct answer is いかがですか — a polite invitation. The other three are all wrong on keigo grounds, and the test expects you to know exactly why.

The Six-Step Decision Framework

1. Identify the subject of the verb. Who is performing the action — the speaker, the listener, a third party, or a customer?
2. Identify who is being honored. In business Japanese, the listener or customer is normally the exalted party.
3. Identify the action. 来る, 行く, 言う, 食べる, 会う, 見る, する, もらう, くれる, 知っている, etc.
4. Pick the keigo category.
   • Subject = senior/customer/listener → 尊敬語 (sonkeigo): お〜になる, れる/られる, or suppletive forms (いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, 召し上がる, ご覧になる, なさる, くださる, ご存知だ).
   • Subject = speaker, with the listener/customer as the action-receiver → 謙譲語 (kenjougo): お〜する, お〜いたす, or suppletive humble (参る, 申す, いただく, 拝見する, 伺う, 申し上げる).
   • Subject = speaker, no specific receiver but formal context → 丁寧語 or teichougo (参る, 申す, ございます, 存じます).
5. Check for 二重敬語. Suppletive sonkeigo verbs are already in the exalted form. Stacking additional お〜になる on top (e.g., ×おいらっしゃいになる) is ungrammatical.
6. Check for speaker/customer confusion. Using 謙譲語 (e.g., いただく) for the customer's action is wrong. Using 尊敬語 (e.g., 召し上がる) for the speaker's own action is wrong.

Common Honorific Verb Table

Common Business Collocations Tested

The test loves collocations where the plain form, sonkeigo, and kenjougo all exist for the same verb. Memorize the triplet, not just the plain form.

• 行く / 来る: いらっしゃる (customer's movement) / 参る (speaker's movement) / 行く・来る (plain)
• 言う: おっしゃる (customer says) / 申す (speaker says) / 言う
• 見る: ご覧になる (customer sees) / 拝見する (speaker sees) / 見る
• 食べる: 召し上がる (customer eats) / いただく (speaker eats) / 食べる
• する: なさる (customer does) / いたす (speaker does) / する
• くれる・もらう: くださる (customer gives) / いただく (speaker receives) / くれる・もらう
• 知っている: ご存知だ (customer knows) / 存じ上げている (speaker knows) / 知っている
• 来る: お越しになる (customer comes) / 参る (speaker goes) / 来る
• 利用する: ご利用になる (customer uses) / ご利用する (formal humble, store signage) / 利用する
• 確認する: ご確認ください (request to customer) / 拝見いたします (speaker checks) / 見ます

Worked Official Example

「打ち合わせのあと、よろしければ、お食事でも[ ]」

The speaker is inviting the customer to eat. The customer is the subject of the verb eat; the speaker is making an invitation, not eating.

• いかがですか: How about or would you like to — polite invitation. The noun 食事 covers the action; いかがですか simply asks for the customer's preference. Correct.
• いただきますか: いただく is 謙譲語 for 食べる, used only for the speaker's own eating. Using the humble form for the customer's action is wrong.
• あげましょうか: あげる is to give (to someone of lower status). Offering food with あげる is condescending and inappropriate to a customer.
• めしあがりましょうか: 召し上がる is sonkeigo for 食べる, but sonkeigo verbs cannot form an invitation by attaching ましょうか. You cannot invite the customer to honor us by eating; the sonkeigo form describes the customer's action from the speaker's point of view, not a request or invitation. The natural invitation uses a neutral noun plus いかがですか.

Trap Patterns

1. Sonkeigo for the speaker's own action. ×「私はご覧になります」— the speaker cannot exalt their own action.
2. Kenjougo for the customer's action. ×「お客様がいただきます」— the customer does not humble themselves.
3. 二重敬語. ×「お召し上がりになられる」— 召し上がる is already sonkeigo; do not stack なる.
4. Right keigo, wrong usage. A sonkeigo verb cannot be used in an invitation the speaker issues to the customer; use a polite invitation frame (いかがですか, ご利用ください, お越しください).
5. Plain polite (です/ます) where formal is required. ×「食べますか」as an invitation to a customer is too casual.
6. Humble-for-sonkeigo confusion with いただく. いただく has two uses: eat (humble) and receive (humble). In the sample, いただきますか looks plausible because いただく = 食べる, but it is the speaker's humble form, not the customer's. This is the most common keigo trap in the BJT.

Honorific Decision Flow

When you see a Section 2 item, run the six-step framework in order. Most wrong options fail at step 4 (wrong keigo category) or step 6 (speaker/customer confusion). The fastest check is to ask: Whose action is the verb describing — mine or the customer's? If the answer is the customer's, eliminate all 謙譲語 options. If the answer is mine, eliminate all 尊敬語 options. Then check whether the construction is an invitation, a description, or a request — that decides whether a sonkeigo verb, a polite frame, or a humble verb is appropriate.