透過grammar point · tier 1 · instrumental 透過 (through / by way of [a medium])
Marks the medium, lens, or channel passed through to reach or perceive what lies on the far side: through X, Y is reached.
字源 FORM what the parts do
透 carries the walking foot (辶), movement, with 秀 for the sound, worn far — xiù to tòu. It writes passing clean through: light through glass, a look through a person. 過 carries the same foot (辶) with 咼 for sound, guò — the crossing to the far side. Two feet, one passage, ending beyond the thing passed through.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A pane of glass between you and the street. The look travels (辶) clean through it, and the street is what lands.
Name the medium you looked or reached through, then state what came out on the far side.
序 · The move
1Put the medium you pass through right after 透過 — the book, window, story, or person you reach the far side by.Is the slot something you see or reach through (一本書、一段話、一個人), not a tool you hold? A held tool wants 用.
2State in the main clause what lands on the far side — what is perceived or reached.Does the outcome read as what arrives beyond the medium, not the medium itself?
3Read it forward: medium passed through, outcome on the far side.It must not invert — 透過 names the thing you go through, never the outcome you land on.
例 · Examples
1透過through / by way of這本書this book，我們知道他不斷unbroken, continual學習與成長learning and growing的過程process, course。
Through this book, we come to know his unbroken process of learning and growing.
通過 walks you through a process or procedure that yields a result (通過溝通); 透過 passes you through a medium or lens to what lies beyond it (透過這本書). Process you complete vs medium you see through.
用 hands you a tool you wield directly (用筷子吃飯); 透過 sets a medium between you and the far side, and the outcome lands past it. Tool held vs medium seen through.
因為 states a cause that forces an effect; 透過 names the lens or channel you reach the outcome by. Reason vs route.
✗ 透過筷子吃飯 → ✓ 用筷子吃飯 (a held tool takes 用; 透過 takes a medium passed through)
✗ 透過下雨，路濕了 → ✓ 因為下雨，路濕了 (a forcing cause takes 因為, not a medium)
✗ 我們透過了這本書 → ✓ 透過這本書，我們知道… (透過 fronts the medium clause; the outcome sits in the main clause after it)
English 'through' and 'by' collapse medium, process, and tool into one word, so learners reach for 透過 where 用 (held tool) or 通過 (completed process) is wanted. 透過 is only the medium you reach the far side through.