Syntactic function vt0oS
subjectless transitive verb followed by its sentential object
It is a puzzling fact that a word like yue1 曰 "say" can be used impersonally "it is said" in a way that would tempt us very much to describe it as a subjectless verb with a sentential object. It is very clear that the formula gu4 yue1 故曰：。。。 "therefore it is said:'...'." very often does not invite or even allow a question who the author/speaker/source is for what is quoted. Nonetheless, the phrase often invites one to look in the context for an omitted generic or concrete subject. Since this subject is idiomatically omitted, we have moved the 曰 to the category vt(0). Quod vide.
Usage
- Lexical entries:
- Found 6 attributions