Grammar selection: ところに vs 途端に


# ところに vs 途端に

## The Question

* * *

Recently I came across this question:

> 最終のバスに間に合わなくて困っていた____、運よくタクシーが通りかかり、無事帰宅できた。
>
> 1)あげくに 2)ために 3)とたんに 4)ところに

I quickly eliminated 1 and 2 but got stuck on とたんに vs ところに. They just seem too
similar.

## The solutuion

* * *

Searching for an answer, I came across a post on HiNative which states that
**ところに** is in fact the correct answer. The explanation given is the
following:

> とたんに
>
> は、何かが始まってすぐ その瞬間 です。困っていたのは瞬間ではないのでだめです。
>
> (例文)
>
> 駅に着い **たとたんに** 雨が降り出した。
>
> 彼女はベッドに横になった **とたんに** 眠りに着いた。

I am confused, because both expressions seem to carry the same meaning of "At
that exact moment/ Just as I was...".

## The Assumption

* * *

Take this example sentence I found:

> 駅に着いた **ところに** 財布を忘れたことに気づいた。

It is very similar to the example sentence provided as an explanation to why
たとたん was not selected, with the only difference being that the sentence with
たとたん is followed by an action which the speaker has no control over, while the
example with ところに is followed by an action of the speaker.

Reading more example sentences with たとたん I can see that the action that
follows is usually out of the speaker's control. This would make sense as to
why we eliminated it as an option and chose ところに.

Is this assumption actually correct? Are there further details I am missing?
Any difference in nuance?

Thanks a lot!




Besides aguijonazo's comments that 途端に cannot follow non-perfective state
(like 困っている), there are cases both can be used because ところに _can_ follow a
perfective.

  * 横になった途端に電話がかかってきた The moment I lay down, the phone rang.
  * 横になったところに電話がかかってきた As I lay down, the phone rang.

* * *

I'm not entirely sure, but a similar difference in usage may apply to _as soon
as/the moment ..._ vs _when_ , where the former only (or at least more
naturally) come with a perfective sentence, like 途端に.

