Simple を Expressions

This page covers a fair bit of simple を phrases. I may move this page to vocabulary later.
If you dont’ care about lengthier explanations, skip to the summary table.

をきっかけに

..Was the trigger of../The catalyst for

をきっかけに is used to give the thing that served to trigger other events.
Can be a direct cause or an excuse.

Examples

• 王の死をきっかけに反乱をおこした
  Used the kings death as a chance to rebel.
  
  

• オイルの発見をきっかけに、近くに村ができた。
  With the discovery of oil as the trigger, a village was created nearby. 
  
  

• 彼の死をきっかけにして村を去った。
  His death was the catalyst for (someone) to leave the village. 
  
  

を契機に

Opportunity to do a (good thing)

Same as きっかけに but more literary and is usually a good result.

May appear as 契機となって…

Examples

• 病気を契機に彼は禁煙を誓った (Weblio)
  With his sickness as an opportunity, he swore off smoking. 
  
  
• その問題が契機となって、体制を立て直した
  That problem became an opportunity, and we reorganized the company. 
  
  
• 彼に実力を証明する契機を与える
  Give him an opportunity to prove his ability.  
  
  

を除いて

Except for X

を除いて is a way to exclude something from a statement.

Examples

• 彼を除いて皆頑張った
  Except for him, everyone tried hard
  
  
• 鉛筆を除いて机からすべてをしまいなさい
  Please put away everything from your desk except a pencil.
• この漢字を除いて全部読めます
  I can read everything except for this Kanji. 
  
  

をこめて

Putting in X (Emotion)
(Mostly emotion words) + をこめて

をこめて is used to say you put some emotion into something else.
This is overwhelmingly used with 感謝 (gratitude)、心*、愛、etc.

*こころ is not an emotion, but represents emotion so it is OK. (Putting your heart into it).

Examples

• 感謝を込めていただきます
  Thanks with gratitude. (From Toriko)
  
  
• 心を込めてぬいぐるみを作った
  I put my heart into making this stuffed animal. 
  
  
• 愛情をこめて作った料理は最高に美味しい
  Food made with love is the most delicious.

を通して

Go through (path, person)

を通して means “to go through”. It gives the path something takes.
This usually refers to a physical path or distance, but can be organizational.

It may additionally be used with time, however 中、 にわたって、or にかけて are more common.

Examples

• 電話を通して連絡する
  Contact through the phone.
  
  
• 話はまず部長を通してからです。
  Discussions should go through your section chief first. 
  
  
• 一年を通して暖かいところに住みたい
  I want to live somewhere that is warm through the year. 
  
  

を通じて

Communicated Through/Via

More or less the same as を通して, but with a stronger nuance of “Communicate”.
This comes from 通じる being a verb meaning “to be understood”.
It is a more literary form of 通して. You can default to 通して.
Do not waste your time trying to figure out the difference in nuance.

It is used significantly less commonly with physical routes, and more commonly with means of communication or dissemination.

通じて may also be used with time, but has a nuance of looking at the time span as a whole.(Source 1) This really isn’t a huge difference and you can safely ignore it. (Source 2)
I find 通して to be more common for time.

Examples

• 森を通じて自然を学ぶ
  Learn about nature via the forest. 
  
  
• テレビを通じて世界を知る。
  Learn about the world via the TV.
  
  
• 弟を通じて伯父の病気を知った.
  I learned about my uncles disease via my brother. 
  
  

を抜きにする

To take away/Do without

を抜きにする Expresses that something is taken away or skipped.

Examples

• 朝ごはんを抜きにする
  To skip breakfast.
  
  
• 彼を抜きにしても勝てる。
  Even if we (play) without him, we can still win.
  
  
• 堅苦しいことを抜きにする (Welbio)
  To get rid of the formal stuffy things. (Keigo, greetings, etc). 
  
  

を構わず

To not mind

Expresses a lack of caring about something happening or not.
May be use or drop に after ず.

Examples

• 彼の反対を構わずに進んだ。
  Continued regardless of his objections

• おなかが空いていることを構わず働き続ける
  Keep working without minding his stomach being empty.

• 武器が請わていることを構わずに振り続けた.
  Kept swinging his weapon regardless of the fact it was broken.

• 雨を構わずに外で遊んだ
  Played outside not minding the rain.
  
  

を問わず

Without asking about (Not care about)

Expresses a lack of relevance of something.
This is common in job listings

Examples

• 年齢を問わず、だれでも乗れます
  We won’t ask about age, anyone can ride. 
• 経験も学問を問わず、学びたい人なら歓迎します。
  No questions about experience or degree, we welcome anyone who wants to learn. 
• 敵も味方も問わずに打ち続けた
  Kept firing without worrying about if it was friend or foe. 
  
  

Summary Table