A Study On Prepositions In Xunzi (《荀子》)

The present thesis is an attempt to research on the grammar in Chinese classic Xunzi(《荀子》),as it is common knowledge that researches on the specific books enjoy the essential and significant position in the study of the history of Chinese. Xunzi(《荀子》) is a significant ancient book of the Pre-Qin classic. The language employed in the book is characteristic of Chinese in the earlier days of the Dynasty. Based on the static description and approached with the integration of quantitative analysis and qualitative investigation, the thesis is a minute and almost exhaustive study of the seventeen prepositions, namely Yu(於),Hu(乎),Yi(以),yu (与),wei(为),zi(自),ji(及),you(由),yong(用),yu(于),dang(当),bi(比),zhi(至),cong(从),yin(因),cheng(乘),fang(方) . It describes the aspect of the preposition's system and semantic, grammatical function of each preposition in Xunzi. The emphatic part is the research of those frequently used prepositions. By doing this, the present study attempts to lay a foundation for researching the preposition's system and its development in the history of Chinese.