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I found this example sentence on YellowBridge :

那对恋人在沙发上又是接吻又是搂抱。

Why is the 又…又 structure used with verbs (both kissed and cuddled) here?

As far as I know, that structure is usually used to connect adjectives instead of verbs.

Then why in that sentence, 又…又 is used to connect verbs?

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  • @user6065 answers should not be posted as comments. Such comments will be flagged and deleted after real answers have been posted.
    – julian
    Commented Jan 3, 2019 at 23:49

3 Answers 3

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又…又 can connect adjectives, verbs or nouns!

Here are some examples:

那小伙又脏又臭, 可傻笑时却露出暴雪一般的牙齿。(He is dirty and stinks, but his laugh gave us a glimpse of his snow-white teeth.)

那小伙又小又廋, 还以为是个姑娘。(He is small and skinny, we thought he is a girl.)

着几个月又是台风又是海啸, 像是世界末日。(These few month is full of hurricane and tsunami, as if it were the end of the world.)

他那又是核武器又是生化武器, 却说是为了杀蚂蚁。(He's got nuclear weapons and bio weapon at home and claims it is for killing ants.)

可怜的女神又施法术又耐心等待可是他终究执迷不悟直到她终于觉得他无可救药了。(Poor Goddess used her divine power and patiently waited to make him walk the righteous paths unsuccessfully, long has passed until she thinks that he can no longer be saved)

难过的他又打又叫直到筋疲力尽啦。(the sad young man cursed and fight until he is exhausted.)

Sorry, my translations might not be accurate, but we got examples of 又…又 used with verbs, nouns and adjectives.

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As far as I know, that structure is usually used to connect adjectives instead of verbs.

2 points I would mention:

  1. Who told you that? You will find many examples of 又verb又verb
  2. Can you very clearly distinguish verb from adjective?

我又惊又喜。
I was surprised and pleased.

A surprised look, a pleased look

Reminds me of a joke:

I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised.

The 又是 ... 又是 in your sentence indicates passion:

那对恋人在沙发上又是接吻又是搂抱。
The lovers kissed and embraced passsionately on the couch.
那对恋人在沙发上接吻搂抱。
The lovers embraced and kissed on the sofa.

Then you can ask why Chinese uses 在 ... 上 for on, but that's another question!

Happy New Year 2019! 万事如意!

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  • Nobody told me that but I had never seen 又…又… being used to connect things other than adjectives before. I thought 又…又… is used only to connect adjectives. Anyway, thank you for explaining and 新年快乐 too!!!
    – Agnes
    Commented Jan 5, 2019 at 16:37
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[又~又~] can connect adjectives or verbs.

Example:

Adjectives:

又高又瘦 (tall and skinny)

又便宜又好吃 (cheap and delicious)

又快又凖 (fast and accurate)

verbs:

又打又踢 (punching and kicking)

又升又降 (rising and falling)

又哭又笑 (crying and laughing)

We can even use [又~又~] for noun, but there are always omitted verb or adjective in these phrases

Example:

又煙又酒 (cigarette and wine) = 又吸煙又飲酒 (smoke and drink)

這餐廳的菜又美國又日本 (the food of this restaurant is America and Japan) = 這餐廳的菜又是美國式又是日本式 (the food of this restaurant is American and Japanese)

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  • Thank you for explaining!!! That helps a lot! I'll write them down in my notebook ^_^
    – Agnes
    Commented Jan 5, 2019 at 16:38

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