從…起grammar point · tier 2 · 從…起 from X onward (set a reckoning point and count forward)
Fixes a point (usually a time) as the origin and projects what follows forward from it: from that point on, the rule or state holds.
字源 FORM what the parts do
從 opens the bracket: the road (彳) and a foot (止) around 从, two people one behind the other, 从 also carrying the sound cóng. It is the path walked out of one place, the point you leave from. 起 shuts the bracket: a runner (走) with 己 jǐ for sound, the body rising off the ground to set off. Between the two sits the point you reckon from; everything ahead is counted forward from it.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A line scored across the ground, and a foot rising off it to set out. The line stays put; the walking ahead of it is what now counts.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
從 [reckoning point] 起，[clause that holds from then on]
觸 · Trigger
You have one point to reckon from and want a rule or state to hold forward from it, with no far end to name.
序 · The move
1Put the point to reckon from after 從 (a time, an event, a step).Is this the origin everything ahead counts from?
2Close it with 起 and front the whole bracket before the clause it scopes.Does 起 shut the bracket, with the clause sitting after it?
3State what holds from then on; leave the far end open.Am I pinning an origin only, with no 到 endpoint?
例 · Examples
1從from (reckoning point)現在now起onward / counting from，你應該should多吃菜eat more vegetables少吃肉eat less meat。
From now on, you should eat more vegetables and less meat.
從 alone names where an action sets out from and can leave the onward run implicit. 從…起 closes with 起 and makes the point a reckoning origin: from here on, counted forward.
從…到…
從…到… pins both ends and reads off the bounded stretch between them. 從…起 fixes only the origin; what follows runs forward open-ended.
以後 sits after a reference point and means the stretch following it. 從…起 brackets the reference point itself as the origin you count from.
✗ 從現在到 → ✓ 從現在起 (起 closes an open-ended origin; 到 would demand a far end)
✗ 現在起你應該… → ✓ 從現在起你應該… (the bracket needs 從 to open it, not 起 alone)
✗ 你應該從現在起多吃菜 → ✓ 從現在起，你應該多吃菜 (the 從…起 bracket fronts the clause it scopes)
English 'from now on' carries the 'on' in one breath, so learners stop after 從現在 and drop 起, losing the mark that turns the point into a reckoning origin.