それでは+ことになる

[thetazuo]

十香を止めて発言を控えさせた方がいいだろうか。ーーーー否、それではかえって折紙に疑念を抱かせてしまうことになる。

Context: the speaker sensed that 十香 was going to reveal a fact to 折紙 unintentionally to the detriment of the speaker. But if the speaker interrupted 十香 then 折紙 would become suspicious of the speaker’s action.

Hi. Can we omit the bold ことになる? Or we can’t omit it because of the existence of それでは (which functions as a conditional clause)? Just like the usual pattern of “condition + ことになる” that is used to represent an action or an event which leads to a certain situation or logical conclusion, as in 今怠けていると試験の時ひどいことになるよ。?
Thank you.

 

[tagoot]

I think you can omit ことになる in this case. それではかえって折紙に疑念を抱かせてしまう is a complete expression on its own. ことになる here just adds the nuance "such situation would certainly appear".

In case of 今怠けていると試験の時ひどいことになるよ, you cannot omit it. It operates as an auxiliary verb representing future situation. You can say 今 怠けていると試験の時ひどいよ or 今 怠けていると試験の時 悲惨だよ. Both are a bit uncommon, though.

 

[thetazuo]

Thank you, tagoot-san.

 

[thetazuo]

あとで後悔することになるよ。
そんなにたくさんお酒を飲むと、明日の朝後悔することになりますよ
A社が百万円寄付してくれれば合計一千万円に達することになる。
Hi. Do the ことになるs in the above examples have the nuance "such situation would certainly appear"?