Trying to translate a 許せるはずもなく


I'm trying to translate a phrase、許せるはずもなく. Generally, I think the meaning
should be along the lines of "We were not forgiven," but with the grammatical
structure of verb + hazu + naku, would it be directly translated as "We were
not able to be forgiven"?




To native speakers, 「[許]{ゆる}せるはずもなく」 would make enough sense without further
context. All that is unclear is who is not forgiving whom, but OP would surely
know who would be in the position to forgive or not forgive someone. If OP
does not, then he has not been able to follow the story --- with or without
this particular phrase.

Seriously, it is nothing new seeing sentences ending in [連用形]{れんようけい} even in
prose, let alone in poetry. In poetry, it IS the norm. Ending a sentence in
連用形 allows the reader/listener use his imagination and complete the sentence
himself. The reader/listener also has the choice to not complete the sentence
by pretending that it ended in [終止形]{しゅうしけい} --- in this case, a「許せるはずもなかった」.

The 「も」 is a key word here though no one has mentioned it so far. It suggests
that the event of Person A not forgiving Person B was completely "expected".
It is the emphatic も.

"As expected, (Person A) was totally unable to forgive (Person B)."

