Usage of いっぱい in this sentence


> a) 日光は運動場いっぱいでした。  
>  b) 日光は運動場 **が** いっぱいでした。  
>  c) 運動場は日光でいっぱいでした。  
>  The sports field was filled with sunlight.

a) is the original sentence from my book. I've been warned that the author is
a bit loose with his grammar so I'm suspicious about this sentence. Is a)
grammatically correct? Is it colloquially acceptable? Or is it just weird? I
expected to see a が like in b).

Also I wouldn't have gone with either a) or b). I'd have constructed sentence
c). Is this correct? Does it feel different?

I wonder if it might be important to note that the sports field was being
discussed in the previous sentence. There was no previous discussion of
sunlight.




If we look at an online dictionary:
<https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%80%E6%9D%AF-434512>

We can notice one thing, when いっぱい is used without a particle, it is used as a
noun.

> ４ 金1両。 「祝儀は女郎へ、壱分を二三十粒、宿へ三歩あるいは金―」〈浮・元禄大平記・五〉
>
> ５ 名詞の下に付き、接尾語的に用いて、限度ぎりぎりまで、の意を表す。「精一杯働く」「時間一杯考える」「腹一杯食べる」 > This one

So in combination with another noun, it forms what we can translate as an
adverb/expression. It basically means "until the limits", so we could
understand the first sentence as:

> 日光は運動場いっぱいでした。: sunlight was playground-full

It doesn't make much sense said this way, but basically, what is being
described in the sentence is 日光, and what we say about it is that it was いっぱい
_until the limits_ of the 運動場.

Whereas your sentence B:

> 日光は運動場がいっぱいでした。

Describes 日光, but what was いっぱい is not the 日光, but rather the 運動場, so the
particle が completely changes the meaning of the sentence, and it doesn't make
much sense anymore. (at least to me)

Note that we could maybe turn this sentence into something by assuming that 日光
is the name of a city, and not the word for "sunlight".

As for your third sentence:

> 運動場は日光でいっぱいでした。: The stadium was full of light

It is correct, but as you can see it doesn't really mean the same thing as the
two other sentences. Here what is being described is the 運動場 and not the 日光
itself.




If we look at an online dictionary:
<https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%80%E6%9D%AF-434512>

We can notice one thing, when いっぱい is used without a particle, it is used as a
noun.

> ４ 金1両。 「祝儀は女郎へ、壱分を二三十粒、宿へ三歩あるいは金―」〈浮・元禄大平記・五〉
>
> ５ 名詞の下に付き、接尾語的に用いて、限度ぎりぎりまで、の意を表す。「精一杯働く」「時間一杯考える」「腹一杯食べる」 > This one

So in combination with another noun, it forms what we can translate as an
adverb/expression. It basically means "until the limits", so we could
understand the first sentence as:

> 日光は運動場いっぱいでした。: sunlight was playground-full

It doesn't make much sense said this way, but basically, what is being
described in the sentence is 日光, and what we say about it is that it was いっぱい
_until the limits_ of the 運動場.

Whereas your sentence B:

> 日光は運動場がいっぱいでした。

Describes 日光, but what was いっぱい is not the 日光, but rather the 運動場, so the
particle が completely changes the meaning of the sentence, and it doesn't make
much sense anymore. (at least to me)

Note that we could maybe turn this sentence into something by assuming that 日光
is the name of a city, and not the word for "sunlight".

As for your third sentence:

> 運動場は日光でいっぱいでした。: The stadium was full of light

It is correct, but as you can see it doesn't really mean the same thing as the
two other sentences. Here what is being described is the 運動場 and not the 日光
itself.

