What does 极尽...之能事 mean?

[anonymoose]

I have come across this structure a couple of times lately. I really don't understand this. I mean, I can find translations in the dictionary (金山词霸）, such as 有两家报纸对首相的成就极尽诋毁之能事 which is translated (idiomatically, I might add) as "Two newspapers did a very effective hatchet job on the Prime Minister's achievements".

 

There is also a post on Baidu asking this question, and the answer given is that it means 把某件事做到极致, but I still don't get it exactly. In particular, what is the function of 之能事? I have also come across the construction 极尽...之能. Is there any difference between the two?

[skylee]

My understanding is that the pattern is 極盡…之能事. I am not aware that you can drop the 事.

PS - to display fully the ability (能事) of doing something.

[陳德聰]

I think the question should be "what is 能事?". If you use up (盡) all(極) your strength/ability (能事) on doing something, does that still not make sense?

[ZhangJiang]

It's classical Chinese. 能事 is the thing you are especially good at. 极 is the top/extreme and 尽 end, they are used as verbs here as to do/push something to the end/extreme. 极尽XX之能事 is to do the thing you are good at which is XX to the extreme.

[anonymoose]

Thanks everyone. I get it now.

 

My understanding is that the pattern is 極盡…之能事. I am not aware that you can drop the 事.

 

The article I was reading has this sentence: 说得不好听，这篇报道就是极尽虚张声势之能，看似充满了新闻爆点，但不过都是在炒过去的冷饭...

 

I also found a couple of other examples from a quick Baidu search:

 

繁靡洛阳，当地知府极尽迎合之能¹

 

生活极尽讽刺之能²

[imron]

I have nothing to add to the explanations, but I will say how nice it is to see a question with context and demonstration that you've already done your own research before making the post!

[anonymoose]

I still have a related question regarding 能事. Does this refer to a natural ability of the subject of the sentence, or does it refer just to that person's behaviour in the particular situation under discussion?

 

For example, 金山词霸 also gives another example: 他对他前妻竭尽诽谤之能事.

 

Does this mean that "他" has a natural ability or propensity to 诽谤 in general, or just that he is 诽谤ing, maybe for the first time in his life, in this particular situation only?

[skylee]

"does it refer just to that person's behaviour in the particular situation under discussion?"

I think so, for this pattern.

As to dropping the 事, I think not everything on the internet is good.

[anonymoose]

OK, everything's clear now.

Skylee，謝謝，妳總是極盡樂於助人之能事，精神無比可嘉。

[Pedroski]

Then '极尽' is 'from top to bottom' 'from start to finish' 'from beginning to end'??

[skylee]

OP, perhaps you could do a bit more research on this? Take a look at the Chinese sentences quoted on this thread. All are negative except the one you wrote at #9. So what do you think? Could you find more examples of this pattern used on positive quality(ies)? Have you used the pattern properly?

[anonymoose]

Another one from 金山词霸:

他对她极尽百依百顺之能事，诚惶诚恐地站起来为她开门、关门。

Baidu also has examples of 极尽乐于助人之能事 (albeit not many), but I can't provide a link momentarily as I am using my iPad:

和一般明星不同，这个明星不但没有任何架子，而且还极尽乐于助人之能事，简直就是个模范生。

Though perhaps, as you say, not everything on the internet is good.

[skylee]

I see. Personally I would tend to use it on negative things.

I have a question on the word "momentarily" - is it used this way in the UK?

[anonymoose]

I have a question on the word "momentarily" - is it used this way in the UK?

 

I think so, but don't trust everything you see on the internet.

[陳德聰]

For what it's worth, I found that use of "momentarily" awkward, but because of the word order.

 

I momentarily can not provide a link.

vs.

I can momentarily not provide a link.

I can not momentarily provide a link.

I can not provide a link momentarily.

[dwq]

 

 

I see. Personally I would tend to use it on negative things.

 

I think it is because Chinese value 中庸之道 and views going to extremes to do anything critically.

[郭大为]

此话通常用在第二或第三人称，并且用在贬义居多！谢谢

[Demonic_Duck]

Re: "momentarily", I think that usage is a little non-standard, I'd replace it with "at the moment".

• For a moment: interchangeable with "momentarily", although I'd say "momentarily" stresses the shortness of the time more than "for a moment". Normally used in the past tense, for something with a definite length of time, rather than in the present tense, when we don't know precisely when a state will change.
• In a moment: apparently interchangeable in colloquial American usage, although to my ear this just sounds wrong/awkward. "Shortly" would be better.
• At the moment/for the moment: normally not interchangeable, although it sounds less wrong/awkward to me than the second usage. "Currently" would be better.

Good explanation in the "usage note" here: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/momentarily (apparently their "Usage Panel" disagrees with me on which of the contested usages sounds more awkward).

[skylee]

When I was young, I was told that to use momentarily to mean shortly was wrong. Later I was told that it was bad. Then I learnt that it was used in the US this way.