Page 22 - EALC C306/505

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之人 zhi rén

之物 zhi wù [wù: thing, affair]

之事 zhi shì [shì: affair, situation, case]

(Additional possibilities might include 之時 zhi shí [shí 時: time; season], 之處 zhi chù
[chù 處: place, location]; the three general formulas should be viewed flexibly.)

Any phrase that ends with 者 is a noun phrase. For example, in this passage, we
encounter the noun-phrase:
惑之甚者

If we replace 者 with the phrase zhi shì, 之事 we can read the phrase as:

惑之甚 之 事
|_____| |__| |__|
A + R
(adjunct) (root)

Now the Root of the phrase is revealed to be shì 事: “a case,” and hùo zhi shèn is the
adjunct modifying clause describing the type of case referred to: “a case of utmost
confusion.” (See 2.4 below for further analysis of this phrase.)

Zhĕ is redundant after phrases that are already clearly marked as nouns (as in the case of
天爵者, since 爵 is principally employed as a noun), but such usage is nevertheless
frequent and rhetorically acceptable.

2.2 Topics and subjects

公卿大夫 此 人爵也
|________| |__| |______|
Topic S Predicate
|___________|

In this sentence, the core element is the second phrase, which in itself constitutes a
complete sentence: “These are the offices of man.” In this smaller sentence, the subject is
cǐ 此: “these,” and the predicate [what is said about the subject] is rénjué 人爵. What,
then, is the grammatical status of the first four characters?

This initial phrase is called a “topic.” In this full sentence, the topic serves as an
antecedent specifying the reference of the pronoun 此. A literal translation of the entire
sentence might be: