1

I think I understand this sentence correctly, but the 4th comma puzzles me. Is it necessary??

在当当网,“创新”是全方位,而俞渝就像心脏一样,源源不断地把创新的血液,输送到企业每一个环节。 I think this is:

在当当网,“创新”是全方位,而俞渝就像心脏一样,源源不断地输送创新的血液到企业每一个环节。

4 Answers 4

2

In your first sentence, the 4th comma is indeed unnecessary. This is what I would write:

在当当网,“创新”是全方位,而俞渝就像心脏一样,源源不断地把创新的血液输送到企业每一个环节。

Your second sentence is grammatically correct, but using the 把 construction is much more natural.

2

The first reason probably is the last part is too long for readers to understand the meaning in a short time. The second possible reason is the focus of the sentence (normally it need to combine the meaning and purpose of whole paragraph or article). By adding a comma there, they are focusing on the how innovative Dangdang is, and the innovations are everywhere in the company. Also there is third possible reason. The comma is mainly for the person who will give a speech based on the article. It will remind the speaker where should be a pause and make the listener easier to accept the meaning.

1
  • Thanks. I like watching 习近平 and others speaking. They tend to speak very slowly, and pause after every 3rd or 4th word. I doubt if their speech writers put that many commas in the text though!
    – Pedroski
    Apr 5, 2015 at 3:00
1

I think both sentences are correct in sense but the first one is much more structured, thus easier to read. My mother tongue is (Swiss-)German and I inherently tend to construct rather monstrous sentences and avoid the use of commas as you just did. But fact is, that cases like the sentence from 当当网 are much more comfortable to read and sound more authentical at the same time.

I dare to say that Chinese basically don't like long constellations of words that are complicated to analyze, but of course they like complicated characters to express a certain meaning. If you take any Chinese poem as an example, many of them would be very hard to understand in terms of their meaning, but most of them are very well structured in terms of grammar and visual aspects.

This answer is based on pure personal experience and not on official grammar rules or such.

3
  • Haha! Kein Schwein versteht Switzerdeutsch! Da ist Chinesisch viel einfacher! Actually, Chinese can build very large 'adjectives' and pile them up in front of a noun. Just by using the magic '的‘, everything is ok! Takes me a long time to understand what is happening though.
    – Pedroski
    Apr 5, 2015 at 3:05
  • Of course you can pile it up — but it's not pretty.
    – flaudre
    Apr 5, 2015 at 3:12
  • Next time I find a good example, I'll send it to you! It is just that Chinese doesn't like to use relative clauses much, so they pile the info up in front of the noun. I really don't think Chinese has shorter sentences than other languages.
    – Pedroski
    Apr 5, 2015 at 5:23
1

You need to add a '的'after'全方位','全方位'is a noun and '全方位的'is a adj.It doesn't make sence if the word '的' is missing. In addition,you'd better add a '的' afer '企业',because '企业' is a adj here.

3
  • Maybe you would like to take that up with 外语教学与研究出版社, my sentence is directly from their text book. I think maybe you are a bit confused.
    – Pedroski
    Apr 5, 2015 at 5:20
  • You are right if 全方位 is used as a noun here, because i don't know the context. For instance,if you want to describe a car, you should say 这车是红色的.If you say 这车是红色,it's wrong.
    – Ben
    Apr 5, 2015 at 6:05
  • I checked it on website, and the original text shows below. 在当当,“创新”是全方位的,而俞渝就像心脏一样,源源不断把创新的血液,输送到企业每一个环节。
    – Ben
    Apr 5, 2015 at 6:15

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.