"...被...以..."句型

[anonymoose]

I came across this sentence in 读者:

人一生下来就被父母教以各种谋生的必需素质。

My question is about the use of 以 in the sentence above. I asked a native speaker why 以 is needed, and she said because otherwise 素质 becomes the object of 教. I kind of understand this explanation, but still feel uneasy about the sentence. Doesn't the 被 already ensure the object is 人? How are we to understand 以 in this sentence?

If anyone could give a general rule for the ...被...以... construction and perhaps provide a couple more examples, I'd be grateful.

[muyongshi]

I'm not sure if it is a set structure....

以 means 用 and when I replace it/read it that way, I personally don't have any feelings about the grammar. The explanation your friend gave sounds a bit too... umm... out there. It kind of makes sense to me but doesn't seem to make it fit like a rule.

Anyway, that is only my 2 fen regarding this. I'm sure there is a better more thorough explanation out there.

[anonymoose]

以 means 用 and when I replace it/read it that way, I personally don't have any feelings about the grammar.

So how do you interpret 用 in this sentence? "teach people to use 各种谋生的必需素质" or "use 各种谋生的必需素质 to teach people" or...?

I'm not sure, but I'd hazard a guess that it's not as simple as that.

[semantic nuance]

人一生下来就被父母教以各种谋生的必需素质。

You may read it this way: 人一生下來就被父母教導 something. Something 就是父母教給小孩各種謀生所必須要會的東西. Here , 以 can be read as '給'.

she said because otherwise 素质 becomes the object of 教.

Why not so? This sentence is like one grammar in English, direct object and indirect object.各種謀生的素質 is a direct object of 教, to me. And, 人 is an indirect object of 教. Well, I analyze this Chinese sentence by means of English grammar. If you omit 以 here, the sentece still works fine, though not very smooth. You can also say 人一生下来就被父母教導各种谋生的必需素质。

If you understand this sentence from 用 perspective--in what way or by what means, then it still works fine.

人一生下来就被父母教, in what way? '以' or '用' 各种谋生的必需素质。

用各種謀生的必需技巧來教導孩子.

Hope it helps!

EDIT: After posting, I've re-thought it over. Perhaps you may read this as "人一生下来就被父母教(之)以各种谋生的必需素质。" So, 以 here seems to mean '用' instead of '給'. If the sentence changes to 人一生下来就被父母教予各种谋生的必需素质, then 給 is equal to 予.

Edited August 13, 2009 at 10:53 AM by semantic nuance

[HashiriKata]

Ok, I haven't got anything to say (yet ) but in order to make "人一生下来就被父母教以各种谋生的必需素质" easier to understand, I've rephrased it as below and first would like some native speaker to please tell me if the rephrasing is grammatically correct and still means what the original sentences means:

人一生下来就被父母把各种谋生的必需素质来教育.

[anonymoose]

Thanks, semantic nuance, I think I can kind of understand it now.

So is this sentence correct:

政治家被愤怒的居民寄以恐吓信。

?

[semantic nuance]

To anonymoose: I've edited the answer, so please read it again. Your sample sentence is, to me, ok.

To HK, your sentence 人一生下来就被父母把各种谋生的必需素质来教育 will sound natural if you change it to 人一生下来就被父母拿or 用各种谋生的必需素质来教育. If you insist in using 把, then the sentence can be 父母把各种谋生的必需素质用来教育一出生的孩子. But you'll have to put it in the context to see what is emphasized.

[HashiriKata]

Thank you for looking at my rephrasing, semantic nuance! Your suggestions are very helpful. I was just trying out a possibility but as it didn't seem to work, so I'll just have to go back to my initial suspicion:

I think the 以 in 教以 is just an empty suffix to turn the monosyllabic verb into a bisyllabic one, something often seen in formal written Chinese, to make it sound nicer & look better. But as usual, I may be wrong.

[jiangping]

In classical Chinese 以 sometimes helps introduce the direct object. As someone said its original meaning is just "use", and it still has that meaning here, it's just that it's coming after the verb instead. I guess you could restructure it as 以 X 教 (Y), "to use X to teach Y" --> to teach Y about X. Although I suspect that would sound odd/wrong to a native speaker.

I think I've actually seen "教以..." in Mencius so I guess it is just a literary-sounding thing to say.

[leeyah]

A read of 文言虚词”以”的用法 may shed more light on the issue:

介词词组在现代汉语中一般是放在动词前作"状语";但是在文言文里介词词组除了放在动词前作"状语"外,还经常放在动词后作补语(也叫"介词结构后置").凡是放在动词后作"补语"的介词结构,在翻译成现代汉时,要作 顺序调整,把后置的介词结构放回动词前面去,才通顺。

as explained by Semantic nuance in post #4.

So, 人一生下来就被父母教以各种谋生的必需素质 'translates' as: (父母) 用+direct object (各种谋生的必需素质/技巧) 来 +(verb) 教导+ indirect object (孩子)

Also, here's a similar example (without the passive 被) of the usage of 以 as 补语 in modern Chinese>> 教以人:

学校是教以人文化、教以人知识、教以人技能的场所。

It looks like the sentence would be just fine without 以, but, as has been pointed out by previous posters, suffixed to the verb as 补语, 以 does seem to add a kind of literary smoothness to this type of sentence.