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In Chinese, word repetition is very pervasive, for example pao lai pao qu 'run come run go'. However, this direct translation is not good English. Does the native English speaker intend to avoid this kind of repetition? Why would a language like Chinese have such pervasive repetition and another language like English largely lack it?

Tim Osborne
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Shudong
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    What exactly does 'run come run go' mean? –  Mar 16 '15 at 19:03
  • Yes, what exactly is 'run come run go' supposed to mean in good English? – Tim Osborne Mar 16 '15 at 23:44
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    Look up Serial Verbs. Chinese has lots of productive constructions, but English only has a few, mostly with go and come: Come sit with me; Come and sit with me; Go get it; Go and get it; etc. So the answer to the question is, basically, Yes. English has fewer serial verb constructions than Chinese, and they're not used as frequently, – john lawler in exile Mar 17 '15 at 00:15
  • In fact, 'Verb+come+Verb+go' is very general in Chinese. It seems that all verbs can be spoken in this pattern. However, the corpus illustrate that not all the verbs are valid in this pattern. Despite this, the limitation on this pattern is still mysterious for me. – Shudong Mar 17 '15 at 14:44
  • pao lai pao qu 'run come run go' means someone is running around. – Shudong Mar 17 '15 at 14:49
  • @Shudong Generally when people ask for clarifications to the question, you should modify the question body. Act as if all these comments will be deleted one of these days, and the question should stand on its own merit. – prash Mar 17 '15 at 15:52

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