What is the difference between these two sentences

[Shiroisan]

みずうみの近くにべっそうを買うことにしようか
みずうみの近くにあるべっそうをを買うことにしようか

I had been taught how to say the second way, but I just read that first way and wondering how it works... is ある　simply implied or .... I'm not sure?

[yangmuye]

教科書にはあまり教えられない、多少変格的だがよくされている言い方のようです。
『存在』の場所、或いは、『出現』の場所と受けてよいかな、と思いますが、よく分かりません。

湖の近くに別荘を買う　→　湖の近くに別荘を持っている
近くに別荘を建てる　→　近くに別荘が建てられる
顔に笑顔が見える

[NileCat]

The simplest answer to the question would be:
“湖の近くにある” modifies 別荘.
“湖の近くに” modifies （別荘を）買う.

That’s the difference.

[Shiroisan]

The simplest answer to the question would be:
“湖の近くにある” modifies 別荘.
“湖の近くに” modifies （別荘を）買う.

That’s the difference.

I see, but..

If it truly is just a verb location modifier for 買う, then why do we say 店で本を買います, and not 店に本を買います。

Or was the former one (and my understanding) wrong to begin with?

[NileCat]

That's because the shop is not the target of your action.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/gr ... bparticles

[Shiroisan]

日本に行く To go to Japan.
Understood. Japan is the target, and all targets of movement are marked with に。

みずうみの近くにあるべっそうを買う　To buy a lakeside cabin； To buy a cabin that's by the lake.
Understood. In these cases, "lakeside" and "that's by the lake" are noun modifiers.

みずうみでべっそうを買う　To buy a cabin at the lake.
In this case, ”at the lake” is a location of where the verb will take place.

Now, the last two examples covered every single way (at least in English) that I can think of to describe the activity of "to buy a cabin that's by the lake", and both examples had Japanese equivalents (at least from my understanding).

Can you please describe to me how the supposed third way of using に differs? Is there an English equivalent? Instead of a rule that I'm not knowing, this problem lies rather in the fact that there's a rule that I'm not understanding.

だれかたすけてくれてください

[NileCat]

東京で家を買う
東京に家を買う

で marks the location of your action.
に marks the location of the target of your action.
(action = to buy)

You take an action in Tokyo.
You take an action which targets Tokyo (as its location).

Nuance-wise, the former means that you sign the contract in Tokyo, whereas the latter CAN mean that you sign the contract even in New York.
e.g) NYで東京に家を買った

Makes sense?

[Shiroisan]

東京で家を買う
東京に家を買う

で marks the location of your action.
に marks the location of the target of your action.
(action = to buy)

You take an action in Tokyo.
You take an action which targets Tokyo (as its location).

Nuance-wise, the former means that you sign the contract in Tokyo, whereas the latter CAN mean that you sign the contract even in New York.
e.g) NYで東京に家を買った

Makes sense?

Ahh I think I get it now. I suppose there really is no English equivalent, as saying that you "bought a house in tokyo" could ambiguously mean either signing the contract or the house itself. The latter would be more commonplace of course, but still.

Thank you very much.