Obs. ii. Impersonal verbs take a substantive after them as transitive verbs; e.g. 難開花者 nan k’é hwó ’tsé, now the flowers open (lit. open the flowers); 落雨 loh ’ü, it rains (lit. falls rain).
339. Adverbs are placed for the most part before the adjectives and verbs that they qualify.
- 忒認眞 t’uh niung‘ tsun, unnecessarily industrious.
- 廟裏最興 miau‘ ’lí tsûe‘ h’iung‘, in the temple, it is most crowded.
- 此地寫 ’t’sz dí‘ ’siá, write it here.
- 歇兩日再會 h’ih ’liáng nyih tsé‘ wé‘. after a few days, we shall meet again.
- 又是一氣 í ’zz ih k’í‘, that is a different set.
Obs. The adverbs that follow their adjectives, such as 近煞 ’kiun sah, very near, 好極 ’hau giuh, very good, will be found in their places, where the comparison of adjectives and adverbs of quality are treated of.
340. Of the prepositions, some forming the locative case follow their words; the rest inclusive of 在 ’dzé, 勒拉 leh ’lá, 勒裏 leh ’lí, all meaning being at or in, precede their substantives. 勿在鄕下 veh ’dzé h’iáng ’au, not down in the country.
Obs. Prepositions of motion and direction preceding the personal pronouns require a substantive of place to follow. 到我堂來 tau‘ ’ngú dong lé, come to me; 拉㑚堂勿有 ’lá ná‘ dong veh ’yeu, where you come from, there are none. See also [Art. 197].
Section 2. Interchange of the Parts of Speech.
341. Under this heading, will be exhibited examples of the manner in which words by a change in position, must be construed as included in parts of speech, different from those to which when alone, they obviously belong. First, there are three principal changes of position, by which adjectives become substantives.
а. Adjectives when they follow a substantive with 個 kú‘ are to be construed as substantives.
- 心裏向個勿好, 總要改正 sing ’lí h’iáng‘ kú‘ veh ’hau, ’tsóng yau‘ ’ké tsung‘, the evil of the heart must be rectified.
- 泰山個高量勿出 t’é‘ san kú‘ kau liáng veh t’seh, the height of T’ai-shan cannot be measured.
- 房間個闊狹勿清爽 vong kan kú‘ k’weh hah veh t’sing ’song, the width of the room, I do not know.
- 吾個相好死者 ngú kú‘ siáng ’hau ’sí ’tsé, my friend is dead.