Sentence decomposion task of the day (from the "假冒iPhone" Expansion)
henning
August 03, 2007 at 06:55 AM posted in General DiscussionThis one is more than tricky:
商家把因为提高服务质量而增加的成本,以各种方式转嫁给消费者。
So the 商家 are 把ing the 成本 with 各种方式 to the 消费者???
johnb
August 03, 2007 at 09:17 AM
The key is the 的 before 成本 -- once you identify everything before that as a modifier on 成本, the sentence becomes pretty clear.
Since 把 essentially moves the object forward in the sentence, it's got to operate on a noun. So when you read sentences like this, the key is finding the object regardless of how much crap has been put before it.
aeflow
August 03, 2007 at 08:39 AM
The company, re: the because-of-improved-service-quality increased cost, by various means shifted [that cost] onto (转嫁 给) the consumer(s).
aeflow
August 03, 2007 at 08:34 AM
商家把增加的成本转嫁给消费者。
Increased costs are passed on to (shifted onto) the consumer
The rest is just why the costs have increased and in what ways (various) they're passed on.
因为 A 而 B
而 usually gets translated simply as "and", but often it seems to be used as a "cause-and-effect connecter". At least that's how I think of it. It hasn't been added to the grammar guide yet.
henning
August 03, 2007 at 09:24 AMThanks everyone!
The first hurdle for me was 转嫁 which dict.cn translated as "marry again", which did fit in as neatly as expected...
The next was the "而". aeflows "因为 A 而 B" lifted the fog.