Some manner adverbials are expressed by the pattern: ‘V1 + zhe + V2’:
2a.她拿着扇子跳舞。
Tā názhe shànzi tiàowǔ.
(She was dancing with fans in her hands.)
2b. 我喜欢开着窗子睡觉。
Wǒ xǐhuān kāizhe chuāngzi shuìjiào.
(I like to sleep with the window open.)
2c.格桑一路吠叫着追了过去。
Gésāng yīlù fèijiào zhe zhuī le guòqù.
((The hunting dog) Kesang ran in pursuit while barking all the way.)
‘V1 + zhe + V2’ is a serial verb construction, both verbs describe events, active or stative. But ‘V1 + zhe’ is in a subordinate relationship to V2, it depicts accompanying event of V2. Hence ‘V1 + zhe’ is used as an adverbial phrase denoting the manner in which the action of V2 is conducted. Thus in (2a), the manner in which the subject referent dances is holding fans in her hands, and in (2e), the little dog 格桑‘Gésāng’ is running after somebody in the manner of barking all the way. The VPs in In (2b) are stative verbs, the first one 开着窗子‘kāizhe chuāngzi’ (the window is open) depicts the manner in which the subject referent performs the stative event of sleeping.
[1] Loar, J. K. (2011). Chinese syntactic grammar: functional and conceptual principles. New York: Peter Lang.
