Sunday, September 20, 2009

Why use (으)로서, (으)로써, & (으)로 이하여?

The markers (으)로서, (으)로써, and (으)로 이하여 can all be replaced with (으)로 without any difference in meaning, so why not just use (으)로?

(으)로서 is an adverb marker used to establish status or authority:
  • 학생으로서 = 학생으로
    As a student....
  • 자식으로서 할 일= 자식으로 할 일
    Something one does as a child
  • 학자로서 = 학자로
    As a scholar....

(으)로써 is an adverb marker used to show the purpose, method, or tool used for doing something:

  • 으로써 낫게 할 수 없는 병 = 약으로....
    A disease that cannot be cured with medicine
  • 생각만으로써 되는 일이 아니다 = 생각만으로....
    This is not something that can be solved by just thinking about it.
  • 석유로써 재산을 모으다 = 석유로....
    make one's fortune in oil

(으)로 인하여 is used to show cause or reason:

  • 불결로 인하여 병이 생기는 경우도 있다 = 불결로....
    Some diseases are attributable to lack of cleanliness.
  • 그 사건으로 인해서 우리 회사가 유명해졌다. = 그 사건으로
    Our company because famous from that incident.
  • 올해 지진으로 인한 피해가 컸다. = 올해 지진으로 생긴....
    The damage from this years earthquake was enormous.

Also, do not use the -으로해서 and -므로해서 makers.

Simplify your life by just using (으)로. Why make Korean more difficult than it already is?

1 comments:

Ed Provencher said...

What do Koreans tend to use? In what context does it make sense to use the different forms? Would it be a more specific form that would benefit a scientific or academic article?