Grammar Note 15
In Grammar Note 14 we saw, by inserting 所 suǒ we can turn a simple sentence, such as 梟逢 鳩 xiāo féng jiū “owl meets a dove,” into a noun parse梟所逢 xiāo suǒ féng “what owl met.” In Grammar Note 15 we look a little more systematically at some ways of augmenting such phrases and then making them components of new, more elaborate sentences.
First, let’s note that梟所逢 xiāo suǒ féng , 虎所求hǔ suǒ qiú etc. aren’t themselves minimal noun phrases. The minimal noun phrase capable of functioning as such in the sentence would be 所逢 suǒ féng “what was met,” 所求 suǒ qiú “what was sought.” These minimal forms are always translatable as passive. An example we’ve seen was 所謂 suǒ wèi “what is called” in Lesson 11 (twice). It follows that梟xiāo placed before 所逢 suǒ féng isn’t exactly the actor of an action ( as in the underlying sentence梟逢 鳩 xiāo féng jiū, but something more like the agent of a passive. In other words, we might better translate梟所逢 xiāo suǒ féng as “what was met by the owl” and 虎所求 hǔ suǒ qiú as “what was sought by the tiger.”
What we need to catch, here, is a difference of form, not meaning. In meaning , “ what the owl met” hardly differs from “what was met by the owl.” But the form – the syntax, the way words combine with and replace each other – is different, and the same is true of as actor in the sentence 梟逢 鳩 xiāo féng jiū compared to its use as agent of the passive in the phrase梟所逢 xiāo suǒ féng. For now you need to recognize and grasp two formal peculiarities of the agent before所 suǒ:
(1) It is frequently followed by 之 zhī. Thus:
梟之所逢
The owl’s that-which-was-met (= what was met by the owl)
xiāo zhī suǒ féng
虎之所求
The tiger’s that-which-was-sought (= what was sought by the tiger)
hǔ zhī suǒ qiú
In each case, the meaning is no different from that of the same phrase without the 之 zhī.
(2) In each of the above sentences the agent (and, if present, the 之 zhī which follows it) can be replaced by the possessive or attributive pronoun 其 qí “his, her its, their”:
其所逢
his that-which-was-met (= what was met by him)
qí suǒ féng
and likewise in 其所求 qí suǒ qiú, 其所釋 qí suǒ shì, etc.
Note that 其 qí can never stand by itself as actor but in these uses is always and only an agent followed by 所 suǒ. The use of attributive其 qí as agent consists with the use of a noun as agent followed by attributive之 zhī .
Note also that what precedes所 suǒ need not be an agent but may be some other sort of subject (topic), for example setting the scene in time or place. Thus besides
秦軍所射之乳母
the wet-nurse who was shot by the Qin army
Qín jūn suǒ shè zhī rǔ mǔ
we may have
澤中所射之乳母
the wet-nurse who was shot in the marsh
zé zhōng suǒ shè zhī rǔ mǔ
Noun phrases of the kinds mentioned, followed by之 zhī , can in their entirety serve as modifiers. The resulting construction, including the element modified, is still a noun phrase (as it must be, because of the nominalizing 之 zhī ). Examples are:
梟所逢之鳩
the dove that was met by the owl
xiāo suǒ féng zhī jiū
其所逢之鳩
the dove that was met by it
qí suǒ féng zhī jiū
虎所求之狐
the fox that was sought by the tiger
hǔ suǒ qiú zhī hú
其所求之狐
the fox that was sought by it
qí suǒ qiú zhī hú
As in any other case, construction like 之鳩zhī jiū are replaceable with 者 zhě. Thus:
虎所求之狐 becomes 虎所求者 and
其所求之狐 becomes 其所求者
(Note that there is no meaningful difference between 虎所求者 hǔ suǒ qiú zhě and 虎所求 hǔ suǒ qiú.)
Noun phrases with 所 suǒ of the kinds we have considered, preceded or not by an agent or other subject, and followed or not by an element which they modify, can as a whole enter sentence as subject or predicate.
subject:
虎所求之獸, 狐也
the animal sought by the tiger was the fox
hǔ suǒ qiú zhī shòu, hú yě
predicate:
虎食其所求之獸
the tiger ate the animals sought by him
hǔ shí qí suǒ qiú zhī shòu
The above are augmented forms; the minimal forms would be:
所求, 狐也
what was sought was the fox
suǒ qiú, hú yě
虎食所求
the tiger ate what was sought
hǔ shí suǒ qiú