A bit of a preface: the two main textbook series, for anyone who doesn't know, for the JLPT are generally Sou Matome and Shin Kanzen Master. In a Daily Thread, I got called out for it, so I'm making a whole post to clarify my point.
First, a Full Disclaimer: I got this because I took an N2 class and they were using this book… unfortunately, I also joined during the second half. What this means is that the class was starting from about Lesson 20. Now, the first 10 lesson I can more or less get, because I've also seen their English explanations. But then I get THIS, in 100% Japanese. I'm using lesson 22 specifically here: ~だろうと思う
~とみえる. Explanation is ある根拠あって、～らしい/ ～ようだと思う。
No freakin' clue what this meant, even with a teacher (as is the case with all of them)
~かがない. Explanation is ～という悪い結果になる可能性がある. I believe this means that "there is a possibility of a bad result". I HAVE seen the English explanation, and I remember that this is Something Bad Happens.
~おそれがある。Explanation in the book is ~という悪いことが起こる可能性がある。If I understand this right, it's another "Bad Thing can happen"… and so, what's the difference between this and ~かねない? I know I had an English explanation for it, but I don't remember it. This and the previous point both sound similar.
~まい/ ~ではあるまいか. Again, explanation is ~ないだろう/ ~ではないだろうか. I'm understanding this to mean "don't think so", but some of the examples don't seem to fit this. For example, だれも信じてくれまいが、これは本当の話だ. Is this saying "No one believes it, but it's true"?
~に違いない/ ~に相違ない. I know that の違いない means "there's no doubt that", though the explanation in the book I don't get: ある根拠があり、きっと～だろうと確信を持って思う. Granted, I also don't know what 根拠 means (a quick look up should obviously fix this)… but then the difference only seems to be that you use ~に相違ない after a から. Is that the explanation?
And last, we have ~にきまっている．The explanation is 絶対に～だと思う, which sounds like "definitely think that~"… however, the examples given make very little sense, and I don't remember the English explanation.
So this is all in Japanese… I know for a few of them I've seen the Englihs explanations and they make this SOOOO much easier… but you're telling me that not only do I need these grammar points (which is completely understandable), I should also be able to understand the explanations in japanese? That's where I'm going to have to disagree- I still say that grammar is best done in your mother language so that you can freakin' understand it correctly.
by the_card_guy