殊(こと)に

Extremely, Especially, To my ...

ことに only carries this meaning with words that describe 'feelings'

Structure

Verb + ことに
［い］Adjective + ことに
［な］Adjective + な + ことに

Details

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Standard
使用域
一般

About ことに

Not to be confused with 事(こと) 'thing', 殊(こと) is an adverb with the same reading that often appears in hiragana, specifically to highlight that something is to a 'great extent'. Due to being used adverbially, 殊(こと) will be followed by に. The kanji 殊(こと) itself has the meaning of 'particularly'.
This expression is regularly seen after verbs, い or な-Adjectives. When 殊(こと) has the meaning of 'particularly', 'especially', or 'to my (A)', it is almost always describing some kind of feeling or emotion.

ビックリすることに、久(ひさ)しぶりに小学生(しょうがくせい)時代(じだい)の友達(ともだち)から電話(でんわ)がかかってきた。
I am especially surprised that I got a phone call from a friend from elementary school after such a long time.
珍(めずら)しいことに、彼(かれ)がいいレストランに連(つ)れていってくれた。
It is particularly rare to be taken to a nice restaurant by him.
残念(ざんねん)なことに、その商品(しょうひん)はもう販売(はんばい)中止(ちゅうし)になりました。
Unfortunately, that product is no longer being sold.

In most situations, '(A) ことに (B)' can be translated quite literally as 'to a particularly (A) extent, (B)'.

Fun Fact

A very common expression 幸(さいわ)いなことに uses this particular grammar structure as a set phrase, and is often translated simply as 'fortunately', or 'luckily'.

幸(さいわ)いなことに、近所(きんじょ)の人(ひと)が私(わたし)の猫(ねこ)を見(み)つけて家(いえ)まで届(とど)けてくれた。
Fortunately, my neighbor found our cat for us, and brought her home.

Fun Fact

Although it is quite uncommon, こと may also be seen as 異(こと), a kanji meaning 'irregular'.

Synonyms

Antonyms

そうにない
Unlikely to, Showing no signs of
Not studied yet

Examples

幸(しあわ)せなことに、来年(らいねん)結婚(けっこん)します。
I am extremely happy about getting married next year.
嬉(うれ)しいことに日本語(にほんご)能力(のうりょく)試験(しけん)に合格(ごうかく)しました。
I am especially happy about passing the JLPT.
驚(おどろ)いたことに、６ヶ月(かげつ)で赤(あか)ちゃんが初(はじ)めて歩(ある)いた。
To our extreme surprise, the six month old baby took its first steps.
不幸(ふこう)なことに、彼(かれ)は奥(おく)さんがなくなり失意(しつい)のあまり、辞職(じしょく)した。
Sadly, he was so heartbroken after his wife's death that he resigned.
不思議(ふしぎ)なことに、最近(さいきん)物事(ものごと)がすべてうまくいく。
By some extreme oddity, lately everything seems to be going well.
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ことに – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (5 in total)

Daru
We usually reserve 硬 for strictly academic/written only/extremely formal Grammar Points, while this Grammar Point is a bit stiff it’s certainly not to the degree of a 硬 Grammar Point.

For example, just from the fact that there’s the very common expression 幸（）いなことに is enough to NOT validate it as a 硬 Grammar Point.

Hope this helps!
Ferpalaciosd
Quick question – I’m under the impression that inverting the sentence order for some of these would come off more natural.

Example:
嬉しい殊に、みんなが協力してくれるようになりました.
vs.
みんなが協力してくれるようになりましたので、嬉しい殊に.

Maybe it would need a bit more tooling for it to be grammatically sound, but that’s just my two cents.
whatyouexpect
Hi, the Bunpro entry suggests that this ことに comes from the adverb 殊, but I cannot find any other sources that support that claim. It seems to just be regular こと. Also in the 幸いなことに entry it does say that this is the こと that means “thing”.