Prepositions of Purpose, Exclusion and Basis
以 = 用、拿来（引出目的/方式，书面语）：以此表示感谢（=用这个表示感谢）；公司以质量取胜（=靠质量取胜）。常见结构'以…为…'（以诚信为本）。
鉴于 = 考虑到、有鉴于（引出做出某决定的客观依据，句首常见，正式公文/报告开头）：鉴于目前的市场情况，公司决定暂缓扩张计划。
出于 = 出自、基于（引出动机，多接抽象名词）：他这样做是出于好意/出于安全考虑。'出于'强调内在动机，'鉴于'强调外部客观依据——二者常被混用，需要根据后面接的是'动机'还是'客观情况'来判断。
唯独 = 只有…是例外（排除，强调众多之中唯一不同的一个）：大家都同意了，唯独他一个人反对。
常见错误：'鉴于'和'出于'不能互换——鉴于后面接客观情况/事实，出于后面接主观动机/原因。
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 他出于好意提醒了我，我却误会了他。 | Tā chū yú hǎo yì tí xǐng le wǒ, wǒ què wù huì le tā. | He reminded me out of good intentions, but I misunderstood him. | 出于 introducing a subjective motivation (好意) — the minimal frame. |
| 鉴于最近事故频发，工厂决定暂停生产，全面检查设备安全。 | Jiàn yú zuì jìn shì gù pín fā, gōng chǎng jué dìng zàn tíng shēng chǎn, quán miàn jiǎn chá shè bèi ān quán. | In view of the recent frequent accidents, the factory decided to suspend production and conduct a full safety inspection of equipment. | 鉴于 introducing an objective, factual basis (frequent accidents) — contrasted with 出于's subjective motivation. |
| 鉴于本季度业绩不理想，公司决定以裁员的方式降低成本，部门里几乎所有人都表示理解，唯独有一位老员工出于对公司的感情，一直无法接受这个决定。 | Jiàn yú běn jì dù yè jì bù lǐ xiǎng, gōng sī jué dìng yǐ cái yuán de fāng shì jiàng dī chéng běn, bù mén lǐ jī hū suǒ yǒu rén dōu biǎo shì lǐ jiě, wéi dú yǒu yī wèi lǎo yuán gōng chū yú duì gōng sī de gǎn qíng, yī zhí wú fǎ jiē shòu zhè ge jué dìng. | In view of this quarter's disappointing performance, the company decided to cut costs by way of layoffs; nearly everyone in the department expressed understanding, except that one veteran employee, out of feeling for the company, could never accept this decision. | 鉴于, 以, 唯独, and 出于 combined in one dense formal-register sentence, using all four target words together. |
What you need first
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Prepositions of Purpose, Exclusion and Basis is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
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