<p>well,</p>

<p>i would suggest "thereby", "therefore", or "because of".</p>

<p>have a look:</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E4%BB%A5" rel="nofollow">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=以</a></p>

<p>have fun :)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-13T06:56:20.727Z
2016-04-13T06:56:20.727Z
水巷孑蠻
<p>In your example, the characters "之" and "以" are "虛詞" serving mostly structural purposes.  We can shorten it as "差毫厘, 謬千里".</p>

<p>There are other meanings and usages of "以".  For example:</p>

<ul>
<li>以卵擊石 - to "take" an egg and (attempt to) crush a rock</li>
<li>王往以眾 - the king went "leading" the crowd</li>
<li>以牛 - to "give" the cow (to someone)</li>
<li>用兵五十人以上 - sending a troop with 50 ppls or above</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-21T03:11:12.867Z
2016-04-21T03:11:12.867Z
Henry HO
<p>For example:   </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>差之毫厘，谬以千里</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I understand the overall meaning of this saying, but if I wanted to just be able to define 以 as it is used here, how could I do so?</p>

<grammar>
How to use 以 in Literary Chinese?
# How to use 以 in Literary Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-12)

For example:

> 差之毫厘，谬以千里

I understand the overall meaning of this saying, but if I wanted to just be able to define 以 as it is used here, how could I do so?

**Tags:** grammar


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-04-13. Score: 1

well,

i would suggest "thereby", "therefore", or "because of".

have a look:

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=以](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E4%BB%A5)

have fun :)


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-04-21. Score: 0

In your example, the characters "之" and "以" are "虛詞" serving mostly structural purposes. We can shorten it as "差毫厘, 謬千里".

There are other meanings and usages of "以". For example:

* 以卵擊石 - to "take" an egg and (attempt to) crush a rock
* 王往以眾 - the king went "leading" the crowd
* 以牛 - to "give" the cow (to someone)
* 用兵五十人以上 - sending a troop with 50 ppls or above


---

