GRAMMAR COMMENTARY
43.1. Adverbial modifier of place
In addition to the object denoting place, classical English introduces a new clause term used to designate
the location of an action. It is very similar to the adverbial modifier of time in that it is used without a preposition and occupies a position
before either the subject or the predicate.
Usually, such a modifier is a noun phrase, formed with one or another spatial indicator.
If a sentence contains an adverbial modifier of time, the latter precedes the adverbial modifier of place: 今十步之内王不得持楚國之衆也 jīn shí bù zhī nèi wáng bù dé chí chǔ guó zhī zhòng yě “Now, within these ten steps, the king will not be able to take advantage of the large population of the Chu kingdom.”
五步之内相如請以頸血濺大王矣 wǔ bù zhī nèi xiàng rú qǐng yǐ jǐng xiě jiàn dà wáng yǐ "At a distance of five steps, I, [Lin] Xiangru, request permission to splash the great king with blood from my throat."
43.2. The Functional Word 乃 nǎi (continued)
In addition to its use as a copula with an emphatic meaning, the word 乃 nǎi can also be used with a predicative predicate, also emphasizing
the action it expresses. In English, this 乃 nǎi can be translated as "here," "right here," "just right," and so on: 吾乃與而君言,汝何為者也 wú nǎi yǔ ér jūn yán, rǔ hé wéi zhě yě "I'm just talking with your master, and what does this have to do with you?"
43.3. The Phrase 相與 xiāng yǔ
The adverb 相 xiāng can be combined with the preposition 與 yǔ, which means togetherness. Such a phrase, placed before an intransitive predicative, is translated, depending on the semantics of the predicative, as "each other," "mutually," etc.
If 相與 xiāng yǔ refers to a predicative with a transitive meaning, it can mean "each other," "among themselves," etc.:
十九人相與目笑之 shí jiǔ rén xiāng yǔ mù xiào zhī "All nineteen people laughed at him, pointing at him with their eyes."
43.4. Adverb 竟 jìng
This adverb indicates that the action expressed by the predicate following it is the result of some previous events. It is translated into English with the words “in
as a result of all this", "in the end":
wéi tài zǐ yì nǚ, nài hé qì zhī xiōng nú, shàng jìng bù néng qiǎn zhǎng gōng zhǔ “Empress Lü-hou cried day and night, saying: “My only daughter! How could she be abandoned to the mercy of the Xiongnu?” And in the end, the emperor was unable to send Princess Chang away.
In some cases, 竟 jìng can indicate a result that was not anticipated in advance and even completely unexpected, contrary to the logic of events. In this context, the adverb 竟 jìng can
translated as “nevertheless”, “and yet”:
白起為秦將,南征鄢郢,北坑馬服,攻城掠地而竟賜死 bái qǐ wéi qín jiàng, nán zhēng yàn yǐng, běi kēng mǎ fú, gōng chéng luè dì ér jìng cì sǐ “Bai Qi was a Qin commander, in the south he made a campaign against Yanying, in the north he buried Ma Fu alive, he besieged countless times cities and seized lands—and yet he was sentenced to death."
43.5. Use of Spatial Indicators in a Predicative Meaning
Spatial indicators (3.8) have the grammatical function of a name. However, in classical English, they can sometimes also be used as predicatives—in meanings derived from the original ones: 相王乃復引兵而東 xiàng wáng nǎi fù yǐn bīng ér dōng "And then Xiangwang led his troops away and headed east."
十九人謂毛遂曰先生上 shí jiǔ rén wèi máo suí yuē xiān shēng shàng "All nineteen people said to Mao Sui: 'Master, come up!'"
43.6. Numeral 兩 liǎng
In the period before the Late Classical period,
the word 兩 liǎng was a definitive pronoun meaning "both" or "either" and was used only when
they were talking about two specific, already known objects: 願君堅塞兩耳無聽其談也 yuàn jūn jiān sāi liǎng ěr wú tīng qí tán yě "I want you to tightly plug both your ears and not listen to his words."
In the Early Classical period, the word 兩 liǎng began to be used as the numeral "two" alongside 二 èr:
楚人有兩妻者 chǔ rén yǒu liǎng qī zhě "Among the people of Chu, there was a man who had two wives."
In the Late Classical period, 兩 liǎng and 二 èr became complete synonyms.
43.7. The interrogative word 胡 hú
This word was first recorded in the Songs of the Shijing, but
it was rarely used until the Late Classical period. In the last centuries BC, a rather clear distinction emerged between the grammatical functions of the words 胡 hú and 何 hé:
The former is used primarily as an adverb, the latter as a pronoun. This is clearly evident in the text of this lesson:
Chinese king shouted: "Why are you still here? I'm talking to your master, so what are you doing here?"
Besides the meaning of "why," the word hú can also mean "how": 人盡夫也,父一而已,胡可比也 rén jìn fū yě, fù yī ér yǐ, hū kě bǐ yě "Anyone can be a husband, but there's only one father. How can they be compared?"
43.8. Functional word 誠 chéng
In addition to the adverbial meaning “really”, “in fact”,
the word 誠 chéng is used in late classical language as
conjunction in a subordinate clause conditions:
僕誠已著此書,藏之名山,傳之其人,通邑大都,則僕償前辱之則 pú chéng yǐ zhù cǐ shū, cáng zhī míng shān, chuán zhī qí rén, tōng yì dà dū, zé pú cháng qián rǔ zhī zé "If I finish this book, hide it in the famous mountain, give it to the people, distribute it in villages and big cities, then I will have paid my debt for my past humiliation."
It should be noted that, unlike 如 rú and 使 shǐ, 誠 chéng, as a rule, does not come before the subject of a subordinate clause, but before its predicate.
