Tham khảo tài liệu 'a comprehensive grammars phần 7', ngoại ngữ, ngữ pháp tiếng anh phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | 15 THE VERB 7E shi Ễ shi to be is a versatile verb which is used for a variety of purposes. One is similar to the verb to be in English to introduce an explanatory predicative. However shi is a very different verb from the English link verb and in the following sections its various uses will be spelled out. By definition all sentences with shi are expository in nature. M Shi INTRODUCING A PREDICATIVE shi to be introduces a predicative which generally takes the form of a nominal or pronominal. This predicative serves as an explanatory equivalent to the topic under discussion. In other words ZE shi equates the two items on either side of it. For example 0 wo dìdi shì zhong xuésheng My younger brother is a secondary school student. 0 wo shì dà xuésheng I am a university student. 0 tã shi womende línjũ She is our neighbour. íiỀêỉt tã shì shéi Who is he íằỄS ill 0 zhè shì tàishãn This is Mount Tai. Verbs functioning in a similar equative way include tt xing to have the surname of. .BH jiao to have the name of. ft xiàng to resemble . For example tã xìng 1Ỉ His surname is Li tã xiàng tã mủqin She looks like her mother . One salient feature of the equation is that the nominal or pronominal expression on the right-hand side tends to be more general . less specific in reference or meaning than that on the left-hand side. One cannot say for example Zhong xuésheng shì wo didi A secondary school student is my younger brother. 244 Chinese A Comprehensive Grammar 0 dà xuésheng shì wo A university student is I. womende línjũ shì tã Our neighbour is she. ì lê Ế shéi shì tã Who is he However it is possible for the words or expressions on either side of the equation to be equally specific and for them to be of a nominal nature. In these cases they are generally reversible without any significant change in the meaning I tó in wáng lăoshĩ shi women de yủfă lăoshĩ Mr Wang is our grammar teacher. 0 women de yủfà lăoshĩ shì wáng lăoshĩ Our grammar teacher is Mr Wang. 11 míng shì .
