Re: verbs = nouns?

From: "H. S. Teoh"

> > (3) ta1zhu3 de fan4 de wei4dao4 [implying more explicitly "the smell of
the
> > rice he cooked"]
> >
> > but H.S. has already expressed discomfort at too many "de"s in a
sentence.
>
> Hmm. This one *could* get by, I suppose. It's really not as bad as I
> might've made it seem. But I still prefer less "de"s in a sentence. :-)
Stylistically speaking, I completely agree with you. Good Chinese writing
strikes a fine balance between "de", "zhi1", and the absence of those. Less
can, indeed, be more. From a grammatical standpoint though, while I wouldn't
write (3) in an essay, I wouldn't flinch at its use in conversation.

Kou