GRAMMAR COMMENTARY
27.1. Interrogative Pronoun 誰 shuí
The interrogative pronoun 誰 shuí usually functions as a subject or object; its use as an attribute is extremely rare.
As an object, 誰 shuí, like other interrogative pronouns, always comes before the predicate:
吾 誰 欺, 欺 天 乎 wú shuí qī, qī tiān hū "Who am I fooling? Am I fooling heaven?"
If the subject is omitted in such a sentence, the forward object can be mistaken for the subject:
誰 因 誰 極 shuí yīn shuí jí "Who can I rely on, who will see [the matter] through to the end?"
27.2. Modal Predicatives 能 néng and 宜 yí
In the late preclassical language, the group of modal predicatives significantly expanded.
In addition to 可 kě "to be able," the predicative 能 néng appears with the same meaning. It is used in a slightly different context: 能 néng denotes a possibility dependent on the subject of an action, while 可 kě denotes the objective possibility of performing a given action.
Another modal predicative, 宜 yí, means "to consider necessary," "to be obligated," etc.
27.3. Negation 莫 mò
The word 莫 mò is used not only as a determiner pronoun (21.4), but also as a negation, synonymous with 不 bù:
人 知 其 一, 莫 知 其 他 rén zhī qí yī, mò zhī qí tā "People know one thing, but do not know [everything] else."
27.4. Personal pronoun 爾 ěr
Above, we have repeatedly touched on the issue of changes in the system of personal pronouns that occurred in the 7th–6th centuries BCE. They concerned first-person and, to some extent, third-person pronouns. However, corresponding shifts also occurred in the area of second-person pronouns.
During this period, the personal pronoun 爾 ěr appeared, which has the same properties as the first-person pronouns 予 yú and 吾 wú. It can be used as a subject or object, as well as an attribute.
For example, in the same song of the "Shijing" (text no. 1, lesson 27), we find the following lines:
及 爾 同 死 jí ěr tóng sǐ "I will die with you."
宴 爾 新 婚 yàn ěr xīn hūn "Celebrating your new wedding."
In the first sentence, 爾 ěr is the object, in the second, it is the attribute of the object.
The Shijing also contains instances where both the new 爾 ěr and the old 汝 rǔ are used in the same song, for example:
上 帝 臨 汝, 無 貳 爾 心 shàng dì lín rǔ, wú èr ěr xīn "The Supreme Lord of Heaven is with you, may you not be overcome by doubt in your heart."*
In any case, the pronoun 爾 ěr is not recorded in authentic monuments from the 10th–8th centuries BCE. Meanwhile, even in the earliest chapters of the Shanshu, it appears repeatedly—14 times in total, 4 as a subject, 6 as an object, and 4 as an attribute. This fact can only indicate that the corresponding chapters of this work could not have been written in the early Zhou period.
* Shijing. P. 334.
27.5. The Definitive Pronoun 凡 fán
The definitive pronoun 凡 fán means "all" and is characterized by the following two features:
a) it refers exclusively to the subject, not to the object;
b) it is preposed to the word it refers to:
凡 今 之 人 莫 如 兄 弟 fán jīn zhī rén mò rú xiōng dì "Of all the people that exist today, there is none dearer than a brother's brother."*
* Shijing. P. 202.
27.6. The construction 以 yǐ...爲 wéi
The instrumental preposition 以 yǐ can be used in a special phraseological construction with the predicative 爲 wéi "to do," "to consider." This construction can be rendered with English equivalents "to turn someone into someone," "to consider someone as someone," etc.:
以 我 爲 讐 yǐ wǒ wéi chóu "[You] consider me an enemy."
