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the phrase at its beginning, it is clear that what follows is a modifying clause and what it
modifies.

In WYW, the Root is the zhi rén 之人, zhi shì 事 etc. that is embedded in the terminal 者
– the Root is at the end, and in all but the most simple 者 phrases it may be necessary to
read back to identify just what portion of the sentence modifies the 者. For example, the
noun phrase:
古之欲明明德於天下者

embeds an S-V-O structure. This structure may be difficult to detect, however, because of
the complexity of the phrase. Context indicates that the noun created by the phrase is the
subject of the longer sentence, and that this subject must be a person: thus 者 must be
interpreted as 之人. In this case, we have a choice of either interpreting the initial
characters 古之 as a sentence adjunct (古) with an added 之 supplied, or as a partitive
form with the last element ellipsed (古之人).

9.3 Preposed object after a negative

It is often the case that the object of negated verb is placed before the verb. This may be
true with the negatives bù 不, wú 毋, and wèi 未. In the cases of the first two, the
alternative forms fú 弗 and wù 勿 embed the preposed object. This does not happen in the
case of 未. The phrase wèi zhi yǒu 未之有 that we encounter here is a very common one.

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Written Exercises
I. Translate into English:

1. 物有大小事有吉凶欲明於此必就有道者

2. 識鬼神之妙在求天下之微

3. 古之欲平天下者明乎必先齊貴賤之位而后可得太平

4. 有久學仁道而未得其要者至楚問巫者曰雖竭心之力猶有所疑如之何
則可巫者笑曰誠欲善其心者必求道於己安可求諸巫乎

5. 宋有玄鳥飛至秦仰觀浮雲俯見百草曰誠善土也盍巢於此焉必反宋

6. 莊子呼弟子曰來將語如道之要弟子乃急走而待坐莊子不復語弟子曰
敢問道於師曰方言之矣弟子曰予不明矣師所方言者無耳曰乃道之要