Are there various ways to use ~し?


[The many ways to say “and” in
Japanese](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/474/the-many-ways-to-
say-and-in-japanese) thread showed me that ～し, ～し can be used give reasons for
something.

> この部屋は綺麗だし広いし間取りもいいから人気がある。  
> This room is clean, wide and also good partition, so most of the people like
> it.  
>  
>  ねむいし仕事があるし (I'm sleepy, and I have work to do, and...[I really don't want
> to] [so I can't do what you're asking])

Seems kind of like ｘし、 ｙし [だ]から ｚ.

Can it be used the other way around: ｚから、 ｘし、 ｙし. For example,
今は休暇だから本を読んでるし、泳げるようになってるし、リラックスしてる。

And how about for just serial actions, for example in reply to something like
今日は何をしてる？

By the way, I don't remember seeing ～し in any textbooks so far, is it
something you'd only use with friends?




> 今は休暇だから本を読んでるし、泳げるようになってるし、リラックスしてる。

This is just my opinion for this particular sentence, but I'd go with the ～たり
form here:

> 今は休暇だから本を読んで **たり** 、泳げるようになって **たり** 、リラックスしてる。

～し lists either actions or qualities, and while it resembles ～たり in that **it
doesn't specify an order** in which the actions took place, it adds a **" not
only, but also"** implication to it:

> 今年の夏は海に行った **し** 、山にも行った。 This summer I went to the ocean, and **[not only
> that, I also went]** to the mountains.
>
> 荷物が多い **し** 、雨も降ってきたし、どこかで休もうか。 We've a lot of luggage, and **[not only
> this, but]** it's started to rain, so shall we take a break somewhere?

(Above examples taken from page 198 of
[初級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック](http://books.google.com/books?id=l-C4H2sBJlEC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false))

In sentences like the second one above, where multiple ～し constructions are
used to provide reasons, as you saw [in the other
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/474/the-many-ways-to-
say-and-in-japanese), the last し can be replaced with から with hardly any
change in meaning:

> 荷物が多いし、雨も降ってきた **から** 、どこかで休もうか。 We've a lot of luggage, and it's started to
> rain, **so** shall we take a break somewhere?

～し can also get tacked onto the end of a sentence when that sentence provides
justification for an immediately preceding statement:

> せっかくパリまで来たんだから、観光でもしよう。天気もいいし。 We've come all the way to Paris, so let's do
> some sightseeing. The weather's nice, too.
>
> このお店はすごくおいしいですよ。かなり安いですし。 The food here is amazingly good. And it's easy on
> the wallet, too.

～し can be used in both informal and formal settings (as seen in the second
example immediately above, it can follow the polite form).

* * *

Mark Hosang kindly pointed out in the comments that in formal speech (and
perhaps most commonly in written Japanese), the ～ます stem form of the verb する
(し) is used as a transition between clauses, just as the ～て form (して) is used
in spoken Japanese. From ALC:

> 上海の不動産価格は去年1年間で24％ **増加し** 、今では中国で1番高くなっています。
>
> Shanghai's real estate prices **increased** 24 percent over last year, and
> are now the highest in the country.

This is unrelated to the ～し form discussed in this question.




> 今は休暇だから本を読んでるし、泳げるようになってるし、リラックスしてる。

This is just my opinion for this particular sentence, but I'd go with the ～たり
form here:

> 今は休暇だから本を読んで **たり** 、泳げるようになって **たり** 、リラックスしてる。

～し lists either actions or qualities, and while it resembles ～たり in that **it
doesn't specify an order** in which the actions took place, it adds a **" not
only, but also"** implication to it:

> 今年の夏は海に行った **し** 、山にも行った。 This summer I went to the ocean, and **[not only
> that, I also went]** to the mountains.
>
> 荷物が多い **し** 、雨も降ってきたし、どこかで休もうか。 We've a lot of luggage, and **[not only
> this, but]** it's started to rain, so shall we take a break somewhere?

(Above examples taken from page 198 of
[初級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック](http://books.google.com/books?id=l-C4H2sBJlEC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false))

In sentences like the second one above, where multiple ～し constructions are
used to provide reasons, as you saw [in the other
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/474/the-many-ways-to-
say-and-in-japanese), the last し can be replaced with から with hardly any
change in meaning:

> 荷物が多いし、雨も降ってきた **から** 、どこかで休もうか。 We've a lot of luggage, and it's started to
> rain, **so** shall we take a break somewhere?

～し can also get tacked onto the end of a sentence when that sentence provides
justification for an immediately preceding statement:

> せっかくパリまで来たんだから、観光でもしよう。天気もいいし。 We've come all the way to Paris, so let's do
> some sightseeing. The weather's nice, too.
>
> このお店はすごくおいしいですよ。かなり安いですし。 The food here is amazingly good. And it's easy on
> the wallet, too.

～し can be used in both informal and formal settings (as seen in the second
example immediately above, it can follow the polite form).

* * *

Mark Hosang kindly pointed out in the comments that in formal speech (and
perhaps most commonly in written Japanese), the ～ます stem form of the verb する
(し) is used as a transition between clauses, just as the ～て form (して) is used
in spoken Japanese. From ALC:

> 上海の不動産価格は去年1年間で24％ **増加し** 、今では中国で1番高くなっています。
>
> Shanghai's real estate prices **increased** 24 percent over last year, and
> are now the highest in the country.

This is unrelated to the ～し form discussed in this question.

