One of... some of

[owen]

I know how to make the structure "one of the..... in the..."

ex. She is one of the best actors in north america; 她是北美最好的演员之一

But can you use the same structure for "some of the... "?

ex. They are some of the best actors in north america; 他们是北美最好的演员之一些

Or is there some other idiomatic way of translating the latter?

[HashiriKata]

My best guess for "They are some of the best actors in North America" is :

他们是北美最好的演员之中。

[owen]

Oh ya, I completely forgot about 之中!

Thanks.

[dada123]

In Chinese, we may say "他們都是北美最好的演員之一"

It's just strange to say:

"他们是北美最好的演员之一些"

"他们是北美最好的演员之中"

[semantic nuance]

他们是北美最好的演员之中。

But the meaning of the sentence is incomplete. You can say 他们是北美最好的演员之中待人最謙和的。

Hope it helps!

[skylee]

Consider 他們是北美其中幾位/一些最好的演員.

[studentyoung]

ex. They are some of the best actors in north america; 他们是北美最好的演员之一些

Or is there some other idiomatic way of translating the latter?

Hmm? How about this-> 他们几位在北美最佳演员中占有一席之地。(My translation seems like the words just cut from newspaper or a formal comment article.)

“the best actors”in Chinese newspaper is usually called “最佳演员”.

Here is another example of “占有一席之地”.

比赛结束，他在10佳歌手中占有一席之地。

1. He was put in the ten best singers after the concert.

http://sh.dict.cn/search/?q=%B1%C8%C8%FC%BD%E1%CA%F8%A3%AC%CB%FB%D4%DA10%BC%D1%B8%E8%CA%D6%D6%D0%D5%BC%D3%D0%D2%BB%CF%AF%D6%AE%B5%D8%A1%A3&r=%D2%BB%CF%AF%D6%AE%B5%D8

Consider 他們是北美其中幾位/一些最好的演員.

Ah~ ~! No doubt, Skylee’s translation is more colloquial.

Thanks!

[wai ming]

But the meaning of the sentence is incomplete. You can say 他们是北美最好的演员之中待人最謙和的[/u']。

Sorry, I don't understand the underlined part Could you please explain what it means and why it's needed, semantic nuance?

[semantic nuance]

wai ming: i meant to point out that 他们是北美最好的演员之中。 does not make sense. The latter part of the sentence was added by me to make the original one meaningful. You can make any sentence.

待人or 對待人--to treat people

最謙和的(zui4 qian1 he2 de)--the most humble and polite.

Hope it helps!

[wai ming]

Ah, I understand what you mean now. Thanks semantic nuance!

[owen]

wai ming: i meant to point out that 他们是北美最好的演员之中。 does not make sense. The latter part of the sentence was added by me to make the original one meaningful. You can make any sentence.

待人or 對待人--to treat people

最謙和的(zui4 qian1 he2 de)--the most humble and polite.

Hope it helps!

I don't understand. Why does the first sentence (他们是北美最好的演员之中) not make sense? Are you saying the adjective 好 doesn't make sense here, or that there is something incomplete structurally?

[wai ming]

Owen, I think what semantic nuance means is that 他们是北美最好的演员之中 is not by itself a complete sentence (and therefore you can't put a full stop after the 中) - it's a fragment.

[owen]

Owen, I think what semantic nuance means is that 他们是北美最好的演员之中 is not by itself a complete sentence

I understand that he was calling it a fragment, I just don't know why. As fas as i can tell the translation of that sentence would be "They are among the best actors in North America." which is absolutley not a sentence fragment. So i'm wondering where my translation is wrong.

[wai ming]

Owen, your translation isn't wrong, but remember that Chinese grammar is not the same as English grammar. Even though the English translation "They are among the best actors in North America" is a complete sentence in English, that doesn't necessarily mean that "他们是北美最好的演员之中" is a complete sentence in Chinese.

Skylee's "他們是北美其中幾位/一些最好的演員" is a complete sentence because if you take out 北美其中幾位/一些最好的, you're left with 他們是演員, which is a complete sentence. The 北美其中幾位/一些最好的 just describes 演員 (I'm not sure what the correct grammatical term for it is in English).

With 他们是北美最好的演员之中, however, 北美最好的演员之中 has the same function as 北美其中幾位/一些最好的. So without it, you're left with 他们是, which clearly is not a complete sentence in itself.

Hope I haven't confused you - I really wish that I'd been taught grammar formally now!

[owen]

Wow!! I think you just blew my mind..... Thankyou:)

Sorry to push this any further but aside from whether that sentence is complete or not, there must be a way to say a 'complete' sentence in chinese that conveys that same information. What i mean is we don't just arbitrarily decide, in any language, what makes a complete sentence. I would guess there is a correlation to complete ideas, which this clearly is.

I'm wondering if we're getting confused over the inherent ambiguity about the adjective best, since perhaps technically it ought not be applied in the sense of 'some of the best'.

[HashiriKata]

I understand that he was calling it a fragment, I just don't know why. As fas as i can tell the translation of that sentence would be "They are among the best actors in North America." which is absolutley not a sentence fragment. So i'm wondering where my translation is wrong.

Owen, here is my understanding from the preceding posts:

1. 她是北美最好的演员之一

(= She is one of the best actors in North America)

However,

2. 他们是北美最好的演员之中

does not mean "They are among the best actors in North America", because in Chinese, "北美最好的演员之一" is a complete noun-phrase, whereas "北美最好的演员之中" is not a noun-phrase (It is a prepositional phrase); and this difference between the two phrases renders (1) being complete and acceptable but not (2).

To put it another way, 他们是北美最好的演员之中 means "They are, among the best actors in North America,...", which explains for the incompleteness of 他们是北美最好的演员之中 as a sentence (Note my punctuation in the English translation). To see the incompleteness of 他们是北美最好的演员之中 more clearly, it's possible to rewrite it as follows:

北美最好的演员之中, 他们是...

"Among the best actors in North America, they are...",

Again, the above interpretation is only my best guess in the hope that it may helps

[owen]

Again, the above interpretation is only my best guess in the hope that it may helps

It does, thanks. I finally get it... and all it took 3 or 4 people explaining it to me

That is, however, a pretty crucial and perhaps not totally intuitive usage note for 之中。

I did confirm with a chinese friend that 他门是北美最好的演员之一 is a correct and complete sentence. Which makes sense i guess since the plurality of people is already conveyed by 他们。No need to extraneously change anything else as in the english

one-->some transformation. And i think that's why i love chinese... so streamlined!

[skylee]

I did confirm with a chinese friend that 他门是北美最好的演员之一 is a correct and complete sentence.

他們 ... 之一 ... correct ...?

[HashiriKata]

他們 ... 之一 ... correct ...?

It is. Here it is:

他們都是北美最好的演員之一

[skylee]

I am so disappointed.