〜ものを (regret / reproach — it should have been)
〜ものを Formality Level: Formal / Literary — formal writing, literary prose, expressive formal speech Classical Origin: ものを combines the classical nominaliser もの (物/者, "thing/matter") with the classical concessive/contrastive particle を ( wo , used as a terminal particle of regret in classical Japanese). In classical Japanese, the construction verb + ものを at the end of a sentence expressed lamentation or dissatisfaction: "it should have been/happened that way, and yet it...