It may be of service to enumerate here a few of the more prominent usages of Chinese Syntax, as exhibited in the preceding pages.
I. There are no inflections of any kind to denote declension or conjugation.
II. Moods, tenses, cases, and degrees of comparison are learned from the connection, or formed by the aid of auxiliaries.
III. Many words are used, as occasion may require, without change of form, as verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
IV. A marked preference is shown for the use of active voice rather than passive voice forms of speech: — He struck me, rather than, I am struck by him.
V. In expressing the action of verbs, stress is often laid on the stage of the process rather than on the time when of the process.
VI. The frequency with which some one important word, — the object of the verb’s action, — is put in the fore part of a sentence to begin with, is a marked feature in Chinese construction. The oar—he broke it, as well as, he broke the oar. The box—he dropped it. The book—he read it. Wood—it is now a dollar a load. The sugar—he sold it. The horse—he led it away.
VII. The mark of the Genitive (kâi) is placed after instead of before words, clauses, and sentences which have a Genitive sense. In English we would say, The heat of the summer day; The tops of the distant mountains of Fokien; The custom of the of ancient Rome. The Chinese reverse the order and say, The summer’s day’s heat; Fokien’s distant mountain’s tops; Ancient Rome’s people’s custom.
VIII. Adjectives are constantly used as adverbs without any change of form.
IX. Prepositions follow, rather than precede, the associated nouns. In English we would say, on the floor, in the house, through the gate, along side the wharf, over the door, under the canopy. The Chinese would say, the floor on, the house in, the gate through, the wharf along side of, the door over, the canopy under.
X. The preposition “to”, or its equivalent, before the dative is commonly omitted. Before the infinitive, “to” is not used at all. We would say, He went to town to seek a friend; He went to Canton to see the mandarin; He went to Shanghai to sell sugar; He went to the sea to catch fish; He went to the field to bring
