Lesson 31: Generic nouns and nominalization with 事, 物, ところ, and の
事 こと and 物 もの both mean "thing". 事 is generally used for intangibles like actions or states, and 物 is generally used for tangibles like objects.
私のこと知らないの？ D'ya not know about me?
可愛いもの好き I like cute things.
所 ところ is a word that means "place", and is used in similar patterns, including ones about intangible places like places in time or progress, and facets/aspects of an entity. Singling out an abstract point in time is extremely flexible, and can imply things like completion, change in state, etc.
彼女は珍しいところもある There's some unusual points to her, too.
同情したところで、過去はもう―― Even if I had felt the same, the past is already... ("By the point I felt the same, ...")
All three of these generic nouns can turn entire phrases into nouns. This lets japanese use phrases like things without using embedded clauses. This is basically a special simplified case of the relative clauses we learned about in lesson 11.
そんなもののために死ぬことはない
There's no dying for such a thing.
(Metaphorically, "There is not to die for the purpose of such a thing")
このところ夜は
Recent nights
事件なんかあったものね
Well, some kind of incident happened.
Both of these uses extend to の for some reason.
赤いのはいいよ
The red one is fine.
いつ使用するのがいいですか
When should I use it?
(Metaphorically, "When is using good?")
This use of の is the reason の is used in のだ.