Choice of 形式名詞: ところ vs こと vs もの


Here is an exercise problem in my grammar workbook.

> 今度の試験には、出ると予想していた＿＿が出なかった。(A.こと B.もの C.ところ)

The correct answer is C.ところ. What does ところ mean here? Does it mean “part” or
“section”? I imagine that the context could be something like this. The
speaker had anticipated that a particular section from the syllabus would be
tested in the exam.

But could I select “A.こと”? Then I would translate the sentence as “in this
exam, the thing that I had thought would be asked didn’t come up.” Would that
make sense?




ところ is definitely the most common way to say it. I think it has to do with the
fact that in Japan, exams are a lot about what's written in the textbook (so
ところ roughly means "where in the textbook" so to say).

`出ると予想していたことが出なかった` sounds unnatural although I can't quite explain why. I
think it's simply because ところ is used (rather than because it would be wrong
in terms of grammatical rules). `出ると予想していた定理が出なかった` is fine, so こと must work
in theory I think.




ところ is definitely the most common way to say it. I think it has to do with the
fact that in Japan, exams are a lot about what's written in the textbook (so
ところ roughly means "where in the textbook" so to say).

`出ると予想していたことが出なかった` sounds unnatural although I can't quite explain why. I
think it's simply because ところ is used (rather than because it would be wrong
in terms of grammatical rules). `出ると予想していた定理が出なかった` is fine, so こと must work
in theory I think.

