The end of one sentence and the beginning of another can be indicated, among other things, by a combination of two pronouns: the first of them is then necessarily the object, and the second is the subject of the following sentence:
戎追汝,汝及戎 róng zhuī rǔ, rǔ jí róng "The Rong will pursue you, you will encounter the Rong."
The pre-classical language continues to use all the most common prepositions and prepositional constructions of the archaic language: a) 于 yú
王格于成宫 wáng gé yú chéng gōng "Wang entered the temple of Cheng Wang"; b) 自 zì
乃祖翼自他邦 năi zǔ yì zì tā bāng "Your ancestor provided [us] with assistance [from the territory] of another state";
c) 自...至于... zì... zhì yú...
自淲東至于河 zì hǔ dōng zhì yú hé "From the region east of the Hu to the [Yellow] River."
Along with these prepositions, some new ones appear in the pre-classical language. Among them is the preposition 以 yǐ.
The primary meaning of this preposition is to designate a tool (in the broad sense of the word) by means of which an action is performed:
以乃族從父征 yǐ năi zú cóng fù zhēng "Help your father on his campaign with your clan."
The preposition 以 yǐ historically traces back to a significant word found in archaic texts—"to lead," "to lead." This preposition has partially retained its predicative properties, which distinguishes it from the prepositions 于 yú, 自 zì, and others.
Archaic Chinese only had one type of predicate—the predicative. Preclassical Chinese also recorded sentences with nominal predicates.
A distinctive feature of nominal predicates is that, when expressed by a noun or a nominal phrase, they cannot take an object. The connection between the subject and predicate in such sentences is not formally expressed in preclassical Chinese (there is no copula):
余小子 yú xiăo zǐ "I am a small child."
The predicate 有 yǒu "to have," as we recall, does not accept negations. When a negative meaning needs to be conveyed, it is replaced by the special negative predicate 亡 wú. This rule persists in the pre-classical language, for example: 亡尤 wú yóu "to have no trouble."
Another negative predicate corresponding to 亡 wú in the pre-classical language is 無 wú, which gradually displaces the former 亡 wú: 無疆 wú jiāng "to have no boundaries," "to be limitless."
The first evidence of the Xianyun on the northwestern borders of Zhou dates back to the reign of Emperor Xuan Wang (827–782 BC). There is reason to believe that the Xianyun tribes mentioned in ancient Chinese sources were one of the groups of nomads who settled in the vast territories of Eurasia in the 9th–8th centuries BC and were included in literature under the collective name "Scythians." The core of the "Scythian world" consisted of tribes speaking Iranian languages.
The sudden invasion of the nomads was clearly intended to strike directly at the heart of the Zhou state. The danger was so great that the king had to mobilize almost all available forces to repel the enemy. One of the songs in the Shijing, dedicated to the exploits of a certain Fang Shu on the battlefield against the Xianyun tribes, mentions 300 war chariots under his command. Bu Qi, mentioned in this inscription, was among the generals who took part in the battles with the Xianyun tribes. He commanded a detachment of chariots.
However, while effective for attack on the plains, chariots lost their advantage in the rugged terrain typical of the areas where the battles took place. Perhaps this explains Bu Qi's admonition "not to get into a difficult situation because of our chariots." One of the battles took place in the middle reaches of the Luo River, which flows into the Yellow River where it turns east. The area of Gaoling, where Bu Qi managed to stop the enemy, is located on the northern bank of the river. Wei, another tributary of the Yellow River, a few kilometers from the Zhou capital.
It should be added that the Xianyun, like the Zhou, fought in chariots, and therefore were called 馭方 yù fāng "chariot tribe."
In Zhou China, there were two types of hereditary names.
The first, 姓 xìng, was a clan name, a common appellation for all members of a clan, i.e., a group of blood relatives descended from the father. The clan was exogamous, so a woman always married a man from another clan. However, she retained her clan affiliation and continued to bear her clan name.
The second hereditary name, 氏 shì, was a sign of clan membership—a group of related families. A married woman transferred to her husband's clan and therefore received his clan name.
The Zhou people had a custom according to which a man's full name included his personal and clan names. Rulers of hereditary domains (zhuhou) used their title instead of 氏 shì. For example, the inscription on the Buqi Gui vessel states that it was made for offering sacrifices to a certain Gongbo, referring to one of the rulers of the Qin kingdom.
Unlike male names, a woman's full name usually consisted of her personal and clan names. The Zhou Wangs were from the Ji clan (姬 jī), and the wife of Gong-bo, named in the inscription Menji (孟姬 mèng jī), also bore the same clan name.