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私は誰に言うともなくつぶやいた。

I came across this sentence over at yourei.jp and I'm not sure whether I understood this sentence correctly.

My translation is:

I muttered "to whom will you tell"

The reason for my confusion is that I've never seen a sentence that has a verb+adverb+verb construction. Maybe I just didn't parse it correctly?

I was also wondering if there are more cases like this.

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1 Answers1

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とも無く is a 'phrase used to express the uncertainty or lack of intent in what precedes it.' The と is not indicating speech prior to its placement in the sentence. A closer translation would be 'I muttered to nobody in particular' or 'I mumbled into the void'.

This construction is not so unusual. For example: 私は田中さんに向かって大声で述べた。'I told Mr. Tanaka loudly'. (I stated in a loud voice in the direction of Mr. Tanaka).

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