是
Usages
1 distinct job 是 does in the Analects, each with examples from the text.
1This (demonstrative)
Points back to what was just said, standing as subject or as the object of a preposition. Read 是知也 as "this is knowing", not "is knowing" — 也 carries the "is".
子游問孝。子曰：「今之孝者，是謂能養。至於犬馬，皆能有養；不敬，何以別乎？」
Ziyou asked what filial piety was. The Master said: "The filial piety of now-a-days means the support of one's parents. But dogs and horses likewise are able to do something in the way of support; — without reverence, what is there to distinguish the one support given from the other?"
Legge 1861
是謂能養
是 is the subject: this — namely, what was just described.
子曰：「由！誨女知之乎？知之為知之，不知為不知，是知也。」
The Master said: "Yu, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to acknowledge that you do not know it; — this is knowledge."
Legge 1861
是知也
The trap: 是 is "this", and 也 supplies "is". Modern 是 = "is" would give the wrong parse.
子入大廟，每事問。或曰：「孰謂鄹人之子知禮乎？入大廟，每事問。」子聞之曰：「是禮也。」
The Master, when he entered the grand temple, asked about everything. Some one said: "Who will say that the son of the man of Zou knows the rules of propriety! He has entered the grand temple and asks about everything." The Master heard the remark, and said: "This is a rule of propriety."
Legge 1861
是禮也
是 as subject, 也 closing.
孔子謂季氏：「八佾舞於庭，是可忍也，孰不可忍也？」
Confucius said of the head of the Ji family, who had eight rows of pantomimes in his area: "If he can bear to do this, what may he not bear to do?"
Legge 1861
是可忍也
Again subject position, referring to the outrage just named.
子曰：「富與貴是人之所欲也，不以其道得之，不處也；貧與賤是人之所惡也，不以其道得之，不去也。君子去仁，惡乎成名？君子無終食之間違仁，造次必於是，顛沛必於是。」
The Master said: "Riches and honors are what men desire. If it cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not be held. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike. If it cannot be avoided in the proper way, they should not be avoided. If a superior man abandon virtue, how can he fulfill the requirements of that name? The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it."
Legge 1861
是人之所欲也
是 points back at wealth and rank.
Combos
2 fixed patterns built on 是, with the role each plays and where to read them.
"Therefore" / "For this reason"
19.4 子夏曰：「雖小道，必有可觀者焉；致遠恐泥，是以君子不為也。」
是 (this) + 以 (by means of) = "by means of this" → "therefore."
"Therefore" / "For this reason"
11.25 子路使子羔為費宰。子曰：「賊夫人之子。」子路曰：「有民人焉，有社稷焉。何必讀書，然後為學？」子曰：「是故惡夫佞者。」
Similar to 是以 but with 故 (reason) instead of 以.