Study On Prepositional Structure "Wei X Er Y"

The thesis systematically examines prepositional structure.The first part examines the word class aspect of X and Y. X can both be a subject word (a noun or a nominal phrase, pronoun, number) and a predicate word or phrase (including word-object phrase, "ba" sentence, subject-predicate phrase). There is one exception though: X can be an adjective only when expressing cause and not when purpose. When expressing purpose, the Y from the prepositional phrase can usually only be an independent predicate word, such as a verb or a verb phrase (verb+着", verb-object, verb-compliment, or adverbial-center word phrase). Mostly psychological verbs are used to express cause in the place of Y.Syntactic and semantic characteristics of the "为X而Y" phrase are discussed in the second chapter. The structure usually occurs in declarative sentence, but can also be used in interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences. It simultaneously expresses cause and purpose and there is sometimes ambiguity as to which part refers to the cause and which to purpose.The third part expounds on occurring patterns of "为" and "而". There are three basic situations regarding the preposition "为": when its occurrence is obligatory, when the usage or the lack of it can influence meaning of the whole structure, and when there is no need for its presence. "而" on the other hand can only be found in situations where its presence is necessary and where it can be omitted.The structures "为X而Y", "为了X而Y" and "为着X而Y" are contrasted and examined in the last part. Further explanation is given regarding "了"and "着".