Obs. ii. Material nouns often in English become generic, assuming the plural termination, and when singular the indefinite article, e.g. earth, stone, etc. In Chinese, if we wish to speak of a stone, the affix 頭 must be used, and 塊 prefixed. Some words need only the auxiliary prefix, e.g. 一塊煤 ih k’wé‘ mé, a piece of coal.
Obs. iii. Some auxiliaries as 塊 are found both in the significant and simply indicative class; a circumstance which suggests that all the particles in the former table had a meaning of their own originally, though now in some instances not to be traced.
Obs. iv. A few verbs are found among these words, viz. 把, 捆, 担, 包, 張, 鋪; they are here to be construed as substantives. In English, verbs construed as nouns are very numerous, e.g. hold, handle, touch, walk, roll.
Obs. v. The examples given in the table, are sufficient to shew that for this class of nouns English usage is similar, except that the particle of must be inserted. It is different with the words of the former table, for which there is no equivalent idiom in English. These two kinds of auxiliaries should therefore be keep distinct.
158. The definite subdivisions of material nouns will now be noticed. It is not only the numeral particles and the other auxiliaries, as registered in the two preceding articles, that intervene between numbers and their substantives. Many nouns are divisible into several parts, which have appropriate names and may be used as the words of the preceding table. The most useful names of divisions are here given, and first those of books and characters.
- Divisions of books.
- 句 kü‘, sentence.
- 節 tsih, verse.
- 大 tá‘, column.
- 行 hong, column.
- 張 tsáng, leaf.
- 頁 yih, a leaf.
- 章 tsáng, section.
- 首 ’seu, ode.
- 篇 p’ien, chapter.
- 本 ’pun, volume.
- 都 pú‘, a whole work.
- Strokes of characters.
- 點 ’tíen ㇔
- 劃 wáh ㇐
- 𥪡 ’zû ㇑
- 剔 t’iuh ㇂
- 撇 p’ih ㇒
- 捺 nah ㇏
- 挑 t’iau ㇀
- 拂 fah ㇓
- 圏 k’iön, small circle. 〇
Obs. These words do not take any numeral particle. Thus in giving directions to a scholar to write the character 受 ’zeu, a teacher would say 一撇, 三黯, 帽下又字 ih p’ih, san tíen, mau‘, ’au ’tí yeu‘, zz‘. The eight strokes given above are all contained in the character 永. Information on this subject is given in Dr. Bridgman’s Chinese Chrestomathy and other works.
159. The most common names of vessels of capacity are the following.
| 碗 wén, bowl. | 盤 pén, tray. |
| 盞 tsan, ib. | 桶 ’tóng, bucket. |
| 盆 pun, a plate. | 匣 hah, casket. |
| 缸 kong, large jar. | 箱 siáng, chest. |
| 㼦 páng‘, pitcher. | 籃 lan, basket. |
| 瓶 ping, bottle, jar. | 簍 ’lieu, small hamper. |