Extended serial constructions

All the predicate (or comment) types mentioned above may, of course, combine in longer serial constructions:

 !3 Wn xmle zko, (lit. I wash asp bath, change asp

 !3 huànle ycfu, clothes, bring asp younger-brother

D

dàizhe dìdi drive car to Xiao Li home, ask him

 kai chb dào with us together go see ylm) Having

 3 Xiko Lm jia, taken a bath and changed my clothes,

 qmng ta gbn I drove with my younger brother to

 ! wnmen ycqm qù Xiao Li]s place and asked him to go

 !5 kàn diànymng. with us to see a ylm.

22 Emphasis and the intensiyer shì

22.1 Shì as an intensifier

Emphasis in language can be conveyed in various ways. The most com-mon is to focus on a particular word or phrase through sentence stress,

Emphasis and the intensifier shì

174 III Sentences

word order or other intensifying devices. Sentence stress is the concern of phonology, and we will not dwell on it here. In our discussion of subject-predicate and topic-comment constructions, we have seen how change in word order can bring about different emphases. What concerns us here is the use of the verb
shì as an intensiYer to highlight speciyc elements in a sentence. We will distinguish between its use in sentences referring to the past (i.e. with
de) and in those referring to the continuous present or future (i.e. generally without
de). (In the literal trans-lations of the examples in this chapter,
shì appears as int[ensiyer].)

22.2 The shì . . . de construction

Where an event or action took place in the past,
shì may be used in conjunction with
de to highlight the adverbials or modifying ele-ments in a sentence, e.g. time expressions; coverbal phrases indicating location, method or instrument; adverbial phrases of manner; or [pur-pose] constructions beginning with
lái or
qù. It is as if a statement with the
. . .
shì . . . de construction represents an answer to a question about when, where, how, to what purpose, at the hands of whom, etc., an action took place.
Shì is placed immediately before the adverbial expression or verb followed by purpose expression/

complement, and
de generally comes at the end of the sentence.

(1) Time expressions:

 ! Wn shì zuótiAn (lit. I int yesterday come p)

5 lái de. I came yesterday./It was yesterday that I came.

 ! Nm shì qùnián (lit. you int last-year or

this-
 ! háishi jCnnián year arrive p) Did you arrive

9 dào de? here last year or this year?

(2) Coverbal phrases indicating location, method, instrument, etc.:

 Ta shì zài (lit. she int at Singapore

 XCnjiApD shbng/ be-born p) She was born

/
 5 cheshì de. in Singapore.

 ! Wnmen shì cóng (lit. we int from Korea come p)

 !5 CháoxiAn lái de. We come from Korea.

 ! Nm shì zuò chB (lit. you int sit car or walk-road

 ! háishi zNulù come p) Did you come by car

9 lái de? or on foot?

175

 !" Wn shì yòng (lit. I int use pen-brush write

 !"5 máobM xil zhèi this mw letter p) I wrote this fbng xìn de. letter with a writing brush.

(3) [Purpose] constructions beginning with
lái or
qù:

 Wn shì lái (lit. I int come see illness p)

 5 kàn bìng de. I]ve come to see the doctor.

 Ta shì qù (lit. he int go ynd you p)

 5 zhko nm de. He went to look for you.

(4)
Bèi or similar phrase introducing an agent:

 Xmycjc shì (lit. washing-machine int by her

 bèi tA nòng mess-with bad p) The

washing-
 5 huài de. machine was damaged by her.

 Qìchb shì (lit. car int by driver by repair

 ràng sCjC gLi good p) The car was repaired

 !5 xie hko de. by the driver.

(5) Adverbial phrases of manner:

 Ta shì (lit. she int honest p tell me p)

 lKolKoshíshí de She told me honestly.

 !5 gàosu wn de.

 ! Chuán shì (lit. boat int slow p sink to the

 ! mànmàn de chén bottom go p) The boat slowly

5 dào hki dm qù de. sank to the bottom of the sea.

(6) Complements of manner:

 ! Wnmen shì tán (lit. we int talk p very

 !"5 de hLn tóujC de. congenial p) We had a very congenial conversation.

 !" Tamen shì wánr (lit. they int play p extremely

 de fBicháng high-spirited p) They had an

 5 gAoxìng de. extremely good time.

Note: In colloquial speech,
shì may often be omitted from the
. . .
shì . . . de structure:

 !"5 Ta zuótian lái de. He came yesterday.

 !" Tamen zuò fbijc Did they go by plane?

 ? qù de ma?

Emphasis and the intensifier shì

176 III Sentences

22.2.1 Subject and object emphasis in shì . . . de sentences

The
. . .
shì . . . de construction may also be used to emphasise either the subject or the object of the verb.

(1) If the emphasis is on the subject,
shì is placed directly before the subject:

 ! Shì wN dk pò (lit. int I hit break this mw

 !"5 zhèi gè cup/mug) I was the one who bbizi de. broke this cup/mug.

 ! Shì jMngchá (lit. int policeman/woman catch hold

 !5 zhua zhù thief p) It was the policeman/

xikotdu de. woman who caught the thief.

 ! Zhèi bln (lit. this mw novel int who write p)

 !9 xikoshud Who wrote this novel?/Who was shì shéi/shuí this novel written by?

xil de?

 ! Nèi bbi kafbi (lit. that mw coffee int I pour give

 ! shì wN dào you p) (It was) I (who) poured

5 gli nm de. that cup of coffee for you.

Note: The last two sentences above are topic | subject-predicate construc-tions (see 18.4). The subject embedded in this structure can be emphas-ised, but the topic is emphatic by deynition and cannot be intensiyed by a
. . .
shì . . . de construction. Therefore, the sequence [
= shì topic | subject-predicate
=de] is impossible:

*
 !"5 Shì xìn wn jì de. (lit. int letter I post p)

(2) If the emphasis is on the object of a verb,
shì is placed before the verb, while
de comes before the object instead of at the end of the sentence:

 Wn shì mki (lit. I int buy p soap)

 5 de féizào. I bought some soap.

 Ta shì hb de (lit. she int drink p orange-juice)

 !5 júzishum. She drank orange juice.

22.2.2 Shì . . . de construction and bù

The
. . .
shì . . . de construction, though it refers to past events, may only be negated by
bù (not by
(
) méi(ynu)).
Bù comes before
shì:

177

 ! Wn bù shì lái (lit. I not int come borrow money

 5 jiè qián de. p) I]ve not come to borrow money.

 !" Bù shì wn gàosu (lit. not int I tell her this mw

 !"5 ta zhèi jiàn matter p) I wasn]t the one who shì de. told her about this.

 ! Wnmen nèi tian (lit. we that day not int eat p ysh)

 !"5 bù shì chc de yú. We didn]t eat Ysh that day.