I have a question regarding nominalization with this sentence from Satori Reader in mind:
もしかして、地震が起きて、
津波が来るということだろうか。
When I read a sentence like this, I do understand the general meaning, but it’s difficult to fully understand the choice of ということ. It comes up a lot, and of course, a literal translation doesn’t of ということ doesn’t make sense.
The translation from SR is «Could it be that an earthquake will occur and a tsunami will come?», which doesn’t seem to capture what ということ adds to a sentence like this. Or more likely I’m not able to understand. Is there a good way to explain ということ in sentences like this?
by HereistheWeatherman