通過grammar point · tier 1 · instrumental 通過 (by means of / through [a process])
Marks the named process or channel by which a result was reached: through doing X, Y came about.
字源 FORM what the parts do
Both halves carry the road radical (辶), the walking foot. 通 adds 甬 for sound, tōng — the way that opens through. 過 adds 咼 for sound, guò — the crossing to the far side. Two roads stacked write one passage.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A tunnel with the road (辶) running through it. The thing goes in one mouth; the result walks out the other.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
通過 [process / channel], [subj] [outcome]
觸 · Trigger
Name the process you went through, then state the outcome it produced.
序 · The move
1Put the process / channel right after 通過 — the thing travelled through, not a thing held.Is the slot a process or passage (溝通、努力、考試), not a bare tool? A tool wants 用.
2State the outcome in the main clause that follows the comma.Does the outcome read as the far-end result of going through that process?
3Read it forward: process in, result out.It must not invert — 通過 names the way travelled, never the result reached.
例 · Examples
1通過through / by means of這次this round of溝通communicating, talking it over，老師又更理解understand better學生的想法了change of state: now does。
Through this round of talking it over, the teacher came to understand the students' thinking even better.
經過 dwells on the elapsing — after going through it, time and event behind you; 通過 frames the same passing as the means that produced the result.
✗ 通過筷子吃飯 → ✓ 用筷子吃飯 (a held tool takes 用; 通過 takes a process)
✗ 通過下雨，路濕了 → ✓ 因為下雨，路濕了 (a forcing cause takes 因為, not a travelled channel)
✗ 老師通過了學生的想法 → ✓ 通過溝通，老師理解了學生的想法 (通過 fronts the means clause; the result sits in the main clause after it)
English 'through' and 'by' blur instrument and process, so learners reach for 通過 where 用 (tool) or 因為 (cause) is wanted. 通過 is only the process you pass through.