- 別人恨伊拉 pih niun hung‘ í ’lá, men hated him.
- 脚勿踏斜路 kiáh veh tah ziá lú‘, his foot does not tread the path of evil.
- 早夜用功 ’tsau yá‘ yúng‘ kóng, morning and night, he applies himself to study.
- 雲裏向看相殺 yün ’lí h’iáng‘ k’ön‘ siáng sah, to take a bird’s-eye view of a battle (相殺 is construed as a noun).
e. Verbs, nouns or adverbs of place and time in construction with 拉 or 在.
- 東家勿拉屋裏 túng ká veh ’lá óh ’lí, the master is not at home.
- 百姓勒拉掛墓 pák sing‘ leh ’lá kwó‘ m‘, the people are hanging (paper) on the tombs.
f. Adjective pronouns, and numbers with the particles appropriated to the substantives contained in the subject.
- 銀子有一百兩 niung ’tsz ’yeu ih páh ’liáng, of silver, there are a hundred taels.
- 第把雨傘是吾個 tí‘ pó ’ü san‘ ’zz ngú kú‘, this umbrella is mine.
g. The verb is qualified by the various kinds of adverbs, either preceding it in apposition, or following it with 得 tuh, or 來 lé, as subordinate copula.
- 件件事體禿是做得正經個 kíen gíen zz‘ ’t’í t’óh ’zz tsú‘ tuh tsung‘ kiung kú‘, everything is done as propriety requires.
- 菩薩一定曉得 pú sah ih ding‘ ’h’iau tuh, the gods will certainly know it.
h. The cause, manner, instrument, place or time of the action are expressed by nouns preceding the verb.
- 黃衣裳是皇帝送個 wong í zong ’zz wong tí‘ sóng‘ kú‘, yellow dresses are given by the emperor.
- 團扇是蘇州做個 tön sen‘ ’zz Sú-tseu tsú‘ kú‘, round (silk) fans are made at Sú-cheú.
- 人個過犯全是神道查察個 niun kú‘ kú‘ van dzén ’zz zun dau‘ dzó t’sah kú‘, men’s sins are all watched and noted by the spiritual powers.
- 人全是一個祖宗傳下來 niun dzén ’zz ih kú‘ ’tsú tsóng zén ’au lé, men are all descended from one ancestor.
- 我下半晝轉來個 ’ngú ’au pén‘ tseu‘ ’tsen lé kú‘, I will return in the afternoon.
- 地皮是牛犂個 tí‘ bí ’zz nieu lí kú‘, the ground is ploughed by oxen.
- 從小到大是爺娘照應 dzóng ’siau tau‘ dú‘ ’zz yá niáng tsau‘ yung‘, from childhood till they are grown they are watched over by their parents.
Obs. The number of prepositions omitted in examples similar to these is very great. Few of them are so essential that they may not be rejected. The remarkable conciseness of written and spoken Chinese is due very much to the omission of prepositions in the manner here illustrated. For that conciseness, there is however in many cases full compensation, in the wordiness or richness, whichever term be preferred, of the groups.