因为……而

[murrayjames]

I posted this in the Quick Translation forum but didn't get an answer. Since it's a grammar question, I'll ask it here:

Is 因为……而 like 因为……所以 ?

Here's the sample sentence and my attempt at a translation...

他也因为激烈反对种族主义而著称。

"He is also widely known for his strong opposition to racism."

[JenniferW]

因为 can be used without 所以.

I would suggest treating this as an example as that, and you then can see 而 functioning as 'normal', as a conjunction, joining two adjectival components of the sentence, I would say here in its 'and so' meaning.

Hope that makes sense (and that it's a good guess at the grammatical structure).

而 is generally more literary in style / register.

[ma3zi1]

Your intuition is correct. You may also see this structure as: 因……而…… (with 為/为 omitted)

For example: 受害者因窒息而死亡。"The victim died from asphyxiation."

[skylee]

Another example: 因為說了當權者不喜歡的話而被判刑=以言入罪 (Imprisoned because of saying something that displeases the authority)

[Glenn]

I just want to make sure I'm parsing this correctly: 說話 is the main verb, right? Then, to build up, it would be 說了話, then 當權者不喜歡的 modifies that, and gets stuck in between?

[skylee]

I don't know enough grammar to explain it. But I think the verb is 說 (say), and the object is 當權者不喜歡的話 (something that displeases the authority). This is probably not a correct explanation in terms of grammar, though.

[JenniferW]

From the point of view of sentence structure, I would suggest looking at this as two equal status clauses, which have a common subject. The two clauses have been conjoined, with the deletion of one representation of the subject - and the addition of words with conjunction functions. This way of looking at it makes it inappropriate to look for one main verb, remembering how hazy the line is in Chinese between things speakers of a Western language tend to think of as either adjectival, or verbal (but not both).

[jiangping]

Glenn, yep that's it, to totally simplify it down, you've got 說 as the main verb in the first clause (then 話 and everything modifying it as the object), and 判 as the main verb in the second clause.

--

而 is a really interesting particle. It was the primary verbal coordinator in Classical Chinese, and you can still see that in some formal structures, like 進而, 因而, and 而已. This usage is also apparent when it's used to connect stative verbs (...and of course in the millions of chengyu it appears in).

It also crops up meaning "but, yet", which you can see in structures like 然而 (to be so, but... --> "however"), and 雖...而... (although...but...).

All in all it's probably better to just think of it as a connector word that means whatever it has to mean in context.

[Glenn]

Thanks. Yeah, it probably would have been better to say that 說 is the verb and 話 is the generic object, and all the other stuff describes the object. Anyway, thanks for confirming that.