the meaning of 手は抜けない

Question

こうなるとテストで露骨に手は抜けない。

I found 手が抜けない and 手の抜けない, but I couldn't find 手は抜けない. Is there any different meaning between 手は抜けない and 手が抜けない?

Thank you in advance for you kind guidance.

Answer 1

You should remember this set phrase as 手を抜く, which means "to cut corners" or "to get lazy". 抜く is a simple transitive verb that means "to omit" here. Its variations can be explained by the basic grammar rules.

• In potential form, を can be replaced by が, so we can say 手が抜ける / 手が抜けない as well as 手を抜ける / 手を抜けない. See: The difference between が and を with the potential form of a verb
• Since there is a rule called ga-no conversion, 手の抜けない is also fine when it modifies something as a relative clause (e.g., 手の抜けない仕事 "the task which you cannot cut corners on"). See: How does the の work in 「日本人の知らない日本語」?
• When this set phrase has a negation, は can be used without a strong contrastive meaning, so 手は抜けない is also fine. See: Why is the topic marker often used in negative statements (ではない, ～とは思わない)?

In conclusion, 手は抜けない in your sentence is interchangeable with 手が抜けない and 手を抜けない (but not 手の抜けない). There is no big difference in meaning.