A characteristic feature of the ancient Chinese language is that notional words reveal their belonging to a class of nouns or predicatives only in a specific grammatical context. Unlike ordinary notional words, proper names cannot perform predicative functions in a sentence.
There are other formal differences between a proper name and a notional word in the nominal function. These differences are determined by the fact that a notional word in the nominal function refers to an entire class of objects, whereas a proper name denotes a specific, individual object.
Therefore, a proper name, firstly, does not accept definitions expressed by a numeral or demonstrative pronoun; secondly, it is not used in the plural.
However, in cases where the specific individuality of an object (person) denoted by a proper name is transformed into an indication of a quality or property, the proper name can be used as a common noun, i.e., as an ordinary notional word, which significantly changes its grammatical characteristics.
In this case, it can, firstly, serve as a predicate:
爾欲吳王我乎 ěr yù wú wáng wǒ hū "Do you wish to inflict upon me the fate of the ruler of Wu?"
Here, the phrase "ruler of Wu" is used predicatively, meaning "to do the same as the ruler of Wu was done." It is implied that the interlocutor is well aware of the fate of the ruler of the kingdom of Wu; what happened to him now constitutes a certain quality or situation.
By the way, the similar transformation of proper nouns into common nouns and their predicative use is by no means unique to Old Chinese. Compare the English to coventry "to raze to the ground," derived from the proper name Coventry (the name of a city in England devastated by German air force bombs).
In this text, the names of the ancient Chinese kingdoms of Qi and Chu are used in a predicative function:
雖日撻而求其齊也,不可得矣,雖日撻而求其楚也,亦不可得也 suī rì tà ér qiú qí qí yě, bù kě dé yǐ, suī rì tà ér qiú qí chǔ yě, yì bù kě dé yě "Even if you punish him daily and demand that he be like a native of the state of Qi, nothing will come of it; Even if we punish him daily and demand that he resemble a native of the Chu kingdom, nothing will come of it."
Secondly, when used as a common noun, a proper noun can be an attribute of the predicate:
欲其子之齊語 yù qí zǐ zhī qí yǔ "[He] wanted his son to speak Zi."
Thirdly, a proper noun used as a common noun can be plural:
在於王所者長幼卑尊皆薛居州也 zài yú wáng suǒ zhě zhǎng yòu bēi zūn jiē xuē jū zhōu yě "Those who are in the ruler's residence—elderly and junior, lowly and venerable—are all Xue Juzhou."
Fourthly, a sign that a proper noun is used as a common noun can be its ability to accept a definition expressed by a numeral:
雖有百盎,可得而間哉 suī yǒu bǎi àng, kě dé ér jiān zāi "Even if there were a hundred [people like Yuan] An here, how could they sow discord?"
一薛居州獨如宋王何 yī xuē jū zhōu dú rú sòng wáng hé "How can one [person like] Xue Juzhou influence the ruler of the Song State?"
In archaic Chinese, we noted that words used to express the period of time during which an action is performed were placed before the corresponding predicate:
旬雨 xún yǔ "It will rain for a decade."
The same is characteristic of pre-classical Chinese:
萬年用 wàn nián yòng "use for 10,000 years."
In early classical Chinese, the word order when denoting the duration of an action changes. Now the duration adverb is placed in postposition to the predicate:
子之兄弟事之數十年 zǐ zhī xiōng dì shì zhī shù shí nián "Your brothers served him for several decades."
However, it should be noted that in the early classical language, the new way of denoting the duration of an action had not yet completely supplanted the old; in the Analects and the Mencius, both are found:
獨居三年 dú jū sān nián "to live alone for three years";
三年學 sān nián xué "to study for three years."
Nevertheless, even in the early classical language, a tendency is evident that became the rule in later stages of the development of Chinese: in a negative sentence, the duration modifier precedes the predicate, and in an affirmative sentence, it follows the predicate:
吾嘗終日不食 wú cháng zhōng rì bù shí "One day, I didn't touch food all day."
群居終日 qún jū zhōng rì "[when people] are together for a whole day."
Note that if a noun phrase denoting the duration of an action comes after the predicate, it takes the position after the objects:
置之莊嶽之間數年 zhì zhī zhuāng yuè zhī jiān shù nián "place him between Zhuang and Yue for several years."
In classical Chinese, the function word written with the character 諸 zhū can replace not only the phrase 之於 zhī yú, but also 之乎 zhī hū. In the latter case, such a phrase includes the demonstrative pronoun 之 zhī as a direct object and the final interrogative particle 乎 hū, expressing a general question. Therefore, a sentence ending in 諸 zhū is interrogative and implies the presence of a direct object:
曰不識有諸,曰有之 yuē bù shí yǒu zhū, yuē yǒu zhī "Question: 'I don't know if it happened?' Answer: 'It did.'"
In pre-classical Chinese, an indirect object, expressed by an interrogative pronoun and formed by the preposition 以 yǐ or 與 yǔ, not only preceded the predicate, but also preceded the preposition itself (26.3):
何以穿我屋 hé yǐ chuān wǒ wū "What is he using to make holes in my roof?"
This rule remains in force in the Early Classical language:
王誰與為善 wáng shuí yǔ wéi shàn "With whom does the ruler have good relations?"
In some cases, this phrase can be broken down so that its components are swapped, and a name is inserted between them. This kind of construction can be translated into English as "what will happen to..." or "what will happen to...":
如宋王何 rú sòng wáng hé "What will happen to the ruler of the Song Dynasty?"
The noun in this construction can be replaced by the demonstrative pronoun 之 zhī, and then it takes the form 如之何 rú zhī hé "what will come of this," etc. This construction is often used as a main clause with a conditional clause:
四境之内不治,則如之何 sì jìng zhī nèi bù zhì, zé rú zhī hé "If there is no order within the country, then what can be done?"
In archaic Chinese, spatial markers were attached directly to the corresponding names, without any function words. In classical Chinese, a spatial marker acting as a postposition to a name is in most cases combined with the function word 之 zhī:
四境之内 sì jìng zhī nèi "within the state" (lit. "within the four borders");
莊嶽之間 zhuāng yuè zhī jiān "between Zhuang and Yue."
The function word 皆 jiē is a definitive pronoun. It indicates that all objects or phenomena expressed by the subject are equally characterized by the properties or actions expressed by the predicate. Thus, 皆 jiē of the classical period is synonymous with the function words 咸 xián and 率 shuài used in the pre-classical period. Like them, 皆 jiē always follows the subject:
宋人皆能守 sòng rén jiē néng shǒu "All the inhabitants of the Song state were able to defend themselves."
宋人皆不能守 sòng rén jiē bù néng shǒu "None of the people of the Song kingdom could defend themselves" (lit. "all could not defend themselves").
The political and economic isolation of the Zhuhou domains during the Zhanguo era contributed to the increasing divergence of the dialects of Old Chinese, which undoubtedly existed in the preceding period. Differences between the dialects of the northern and southern kingdoms were particularly noticeable.
Mencius, incidentally, proposed the most correct and effective method for learning a foreign dialect (language): not only to invite a teacher who is a native speaker of the given dialect, but also to travel to the place where it is spoken, since exposure to the language being studied best guarantees the desired effect.