A Comparative Study On The Modern Chinese "HEN" And Its English Equivalent Adverbs Of Degree

Under the guidance of the theory of comparative linguistics, using the methods of comparative study and corpus, this paper draws lessons from excellent research findings of predecessor and great scholars of the period and does specific study to "Hen" in modern Chinese and its corresponding expression in English from the aspects of word property, semantic and syntactic function.Through contrast, we found that "Hen" and its corresponding expression in English have certain commonality and individuality, and that most of them can modify adjectives, verbs, adjective phrases, verb phrases and they can also modify nouns. The differences between the two are mainly expressed in following aspects:first, their word properties as well as their specific location in degree adverbs are different; second, their semantics are different; third, their grammatical functions are different. Specifically, "Hen"is an absolute adverb of degree of high order of magnitude but its corresponding expressions in English are complex and take a variety of meanings, and some expressions can be postpositional. In English, modifying adjectives and adverbs is the main modify function of adverb. Adverb is an open class and can match very wide scope of adverbs; while in Chinese, "Hen" can only be collocated with individual adverb. Generally, "Hen" is not used alone in comparison sentences and sentences with blessing, order or advice, but in English its corresponding expression can be used as above. The negative forms of both are not exactly the same. "Hen" in Chinese is more complex and has strict limits to head words to enter the negative structure.