Other Mandarin structures that highlight the affected object & de-emphasize the agent 21.6
- 给/給 gěi is also used as a verb meaning ‘give,’ and as a preposition meaning ‘to’ or ‘for/on
behalf of.’
C 14
When the verb is not followed by an object noun phrase, 叫 jiào and 让/讓 ràng may sometimes
be interpreted as either a passive marker or as a verb, and the sentence may be ambiguous.教授让学生批评了。
教授讓學生批評了。
Jiàoshòu ràng xuésheng pīpíng le.
The professor was criticized by the students.
(让/讓 ràng = passive marker: by the students)
or
The professor now allows the students to criticize.
(让/讓 ràng = allow: allows the students)
In most cases, however, the context will make clear the function of 叫 jiào, or 让/讓 ràng, or 给/給
gěi, and only one interpretation will make sense. For example, the following sentence only
makes sense if 让/讓 ràng is interpreted as ‘allow’ or ‘let’ and not as the passive marker ‘by.’妈妈让孩子吃饼干。
媽媽讓孩子吃餅乾。
Māma ràng háizi chī bǐnggān.
Mom let the children eat cookies. (*by the children... )21.6 Other Mandarin structures that highlight the affected
object and de-emphasize the agent
Mandarin has several different patterns that function to emphasize an affected object or to
de-emphasize or avoid mentioning the agent. These include the following:- Topicalization
支票，银行已经收到了。
支票，銀行已經收到了。
Zhīpiào, yínháng yǐjing shōudào le.
(As for) the check, the bank has already received it.
C57.1.2.1- The 把 bǎ construction
朋友把水果送来了。
朋友把水果送来了。
Péngyou bǎ shuíguǒ sònglai le.
A friend sent the fruit as a gift.
(A friend took the fruit and sent it as a gift.)
C20, 57.2.1- The 是 shì... 的 de construction
这本书是我教授写的。
這本書是我教授寫的。
Zhè běn shū shì wǒ jiàoshòu xiě de.
This book was written by my professor.
(This book, it was my professor who wrote it.)
C57.2.4