Breakdown of Nà wèi xiǎoshuōjiā shuō, shēnghuó zhōng de měi jiàn shìqing dōu kěyǐ biànchéng gèzhǒng gùshi.
Questions & Answers about Nà wèi xiǎoshuōjiā shuō, shēnghuó zhōng de měi jiàn shìqing dōu kěyǐ biànchéng gèzhǒng gùshi.
那 by itself can already mean “that” as a determiner before a noun (like “that novelist”).
- 那位小说家 = that novelist
- 那个小说家 = that novelist as well
Differences / feel:
- 那位 is a bit more polite/formal because of 位 (an honorific measure word).
- 那个 is more neutral/colloquial; it just uses the very common measure word 个.
So you could say 那个小说家说…, but 那位小说家 sounds slightly more respectful and fits a written or careful style better.
位 is a measure word (classifier) used for people, especially in polite or respectful contexts.
- 那小说家 – grammatically understandable but sounds a bit bare or casual.
- 那位小说家 – “that (respected) novelist”; sounds more natural and polite.
In Chinese, when you specify “this/that + person”, you almost always need a measure word:
- 这位老师 / 这个老师 – this teacher
- 那位医生 / 那个医生 – that doctor
Here, 位 emphasizes respect for the novelist.
All refer to people who write, but they’re not the same:
- 小说家 – novelist, someone who specializes in writing fiction/novels.
- 作家 – writer/author, usually a professional literary writer (novels, essays, etc.).
- 作者 – author, often used in a neutral or technical way: the person who created a text, article, study, etc.
In this sentence, 小说家 tells you specifically that this person writes novels, not just any kind of text.
Both are possible, but the structures are slightly different:
在生活中，…
- 在 + place + 中 = a prepositional phrase (“in life”), functioning like an adverbial: In life, …
生活中的每件事情
- 生活中 acts like a location modifier for what follows.
- 中 is followed by 的 to connect it to the noun:
- 生活中的每件事情 = every thing (that is) in life
If you wanted to keep 在, you would say:
- 在生活中，每件事情都可以… (no 的, because now it modifies the whole clause, not directly the noun)
The original chooses the “X 中的 Y” pattern: 生活中 + 的 + 每件事情.
Here, 的 turns 生活中 (“in life”) into an attributive phrase that modifies 每件事情:
- 生活中 – “in life” (location phrase)
- 生活中
- 的 – “(the things) that are in life”
- 生活中的每件事情 – every thing in life
Pattern: [Place/Scope] 中 + 的 + [Noun]
Examples:
- 书包里的东西 – the things in the schoolbag
- 学校里的老师 – the teachers at school
So 的 is required to link the modifier to the noun.
You cannot say 每事情; you need a measure word between 每 and the noun:
- Pattern: 每 + [measure word] + noun
- 件 is a measure word for events, matters, and some items.
So:
- 每件事情 – every (individual) thing/event
- 每本书 – every book
- 每个人 – every person
Without the measure word, 每事情 is ungrammatical.
Yes, 每件事 is perfectly natural and very common:
- 事情 and 事 often mean the same thing (“matter/thing/event”) in everyday speech.
- 事 is short and colloquial; 事情 can sound slightly more complete or formal, but the difference is small here.
So both are fine:
- 生活中的每件事情…
- 生活中的每件事…
The meaning is essentially the same.
In Chinese, when you use 每 (“every”), it’s very common and natural to also use 都 in the predicate to emphasize the “all” idea:
- 每件事情都可以… – Every single thing can… / They all can…
每 focuses on each individual item;
都 gathers them together as a set, stressing “all of them”.
While you can sometimes omit 都 in some structures, 每…都… is a very standard pattern:
- 每个人都知道。– Everyone knows.
- 每天都很忙。– Every day is busy.
都 normally comes right after the subject (or the part being quantified) and before the verb.
Here, the subject is 生活中的每件事情. So:
- ✅ 生活中的每件事情都可以变成各种故事。
- ❌ 生活中的每件事情可以都变成各种故事。 (sounds wrong or awkward)
General pattern:
- [plural/quantified subject] + 都
- [modal verb] + [main verb]
Examples:
- 他们都可以来。– They can all come.
- 这些问题都能解决。– These problems can all be solved.
In this sentence, 都可以变成各种故事 and 都能变成各种故事 are both grammatically fine. Subtle differences:
可以 often means:
- permission / possibility / potential
- “can, may, be possible to”
能 often emphasizes:
- ability / capability / feasibility
- “be able to, be capable of”
Here, 可以 feels natural because it expresses a kind of general possibility: “can become (can be turned into) stories.”
能 would shift the nuance slightly toward ability, but the meaning would still be understandable.
All relate to “change / become,” but they’re used slightly differently:
变成 – become / turn into (focus on transformation into a new form)
- 变成故事 – turn into stories
- 变成朋友 – become friends
变为 – more formal/literary, also “change into”
- 空地变为公园 – The vacant lot was turned into a park.
变 alone often needs a complement:
- 天变冷了 – The weather became cold.
- 事情变复杂了 – The matter became complicated.
In 变成各种故事, 成 introduces the resulting state, so this is the most natural everyday expression for “turn into (all kinds of) stories.”
各种 (“all kinds of / various”) can be used in two ways:
- Attributive + 的:
- 各种的花 – all kinds of flowers
- Fixed adjectival quantifier, often skipping 的, especially in spoken/written modern Chinese:
- 各种故事 – all kinds of stories
- 各种问题 – all kinds of problems
Both 各种故事 and 各种的故事 are acceptable.
Here, 各种故事 is shorter and very natural. Omitting 的 after 各类 / 各种 / 各式 etc. is common.
Chinese normally does not use a separate word for “that” to introduce reported speech. The sentence after 说 is taken directly as its object clause:
- 他说，明天会下雨。– He said (that) it will rain tomorrow.
So:
- 那位小说家说，生活中的每件事情都可以变成各种故事。
= That novelist said (that) every thing in life can become all kinds of stories.
The comma marks a pause between the verb 说 and what is being said. No extra conjunction like “that” is needed.
You could say:
- 在生活里，每件事情都可以变成各种故事。
- 生活里的每件事情都可以变成各种故事。
中 vs 里:
中 often sounds a bit more formal/abstract, common in written style:
- 生活中，工作中，学习中 – in life, at work, in (the process of) studying
里 often feels more concrete/colloquial, physically “inside” or “within”:
- 房间里，箱子里，脑子里 – in the room, in the box, in (one’s) mind
Here, 生活中 is very idiomatic set phrase: “(within the sphere of) life”. Using 里 is possible but feels slightly more informal and concrete.
You can break it into main clause + object clause:
Main clause (who said):
- 那位小说家说
- That novelist said
Object clause (what he said):
- 生活中的每件事情都可以变成各种故事。
- Every thing in life can become all kinds of stories.
Inside the object clause:
- Subject: 生活中的每件事情
- Adverb: 都
- Modal verb: 可以
- Verb: 变成
- Object (result): 各种故事
So:
[那位小说家] [说]， [生活中的每件事情] [都] [可以] [变成] [各种故事]。