The Commentary On Wang Li's Historical Grammar Study Of Complex Predicate

Complex Predicate is sentences that have two or more verbs or verb-phrases linking tighter as predicate ,which consist of Telescopic Form and Serial verb constructions. Mashi Wentong conclude the construction as"zuodong"and"sandong"based on western grammar. And the real reach on it begin with Wang Li in the early 20 centeries.In the 1930s, Wang Li started to study the duplicate verb structure of Chinese, and named"di xi"constructions and"jinsuo"constructions in his book the Theory of Chinese Grammar and the Modern Chinese Grammar . In the 1950s , he wrote"di xi"constructions down in his book the History of Chinese, which a book study on the development of Chinese. The book describes when the"di xi"constructions appears and which words can used in the structure. In the 1980s, based on the History of Chinese ,Wang Li published the History of Chinese Grammar。There are many details have made changes, the same to the complex predicate. Beside the"di xi"constructions, it is also describes Serial verb constructions。These two type of sentences are special grammatical phenomenon in the modern Chinese grammar, which different from western language. From the theory of Chinese Grammar to the History of Chinese Grammar, the study of Complex Predicate has great progress from the definition, classification, to the range. Wang Li's study about Complex Predicate especially the , which revealing Chinese grammar characteristic, and opening a new research field.The paper studied the historic development process of complex predicate based on the comparison of Wang Li's historical research in different periods. Perceiving the meanings and combining former study results on analysis of history of the construction that bring people deeper understanding of the target constructions. Moreover, reasons for prename of"di xi"constructions are explained and a possible idea to solve the controversial bi-constituent is provided. Finally limitations of the present study and suggestions for further studies are stated in this thesis.