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Making Sense of Grammar
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What are the semantic differences between passive sentences with agents and those without agents?

asked Apr 18, 2018 in Questions about Chinese Grammar by admin (25,520 points)
edited Apr 20, 2018 by admin | 272 views

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The lack of agent in a sentence could have several reasons. The agent may not be important at all, or is predictable on general grounds. The agent may be unknown to the speaker at this stage of speaking. 

Topic-comment structure:

蘋果吃了。

Pingguo chi le

The apple was eaten.

NP+NP+V structure:

蘋果小明吃了。

Pingguo Xiaoming chi le

The apple was eaten by Xiaoming.

In Chinese, an agent can be added to the sentence as secondary topic without extra marking. 

answered Apr 18, 2018 by admin (25,520 points)
edited Apr 20, 2018 by admin

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1,614 questions
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