本文指出，《左傳》、《國語》中徵引詩、書文句的「在X曰」、「X曰（云）」、「X有之曰」等套式的使用場合有如下的分別：「在X曰」所引文句是引文者預設為受話者所熟知的；「X有之曰」所引文句是引文者預設為受話者所不熟悉的；「X曰（云）」則是中性的，是引文者不能確定受話者的熟悉程度或者想採取模糊或安全的策略時所採用的。本文還進一步考察《左傳》、《國語》引詩的情況，推定《詩經》結集的順序是先有大雅、小雅，而後國風和頌才依次編入。周頌保有其獨特的地位應至少維持到西元前7世紀的下半葉，可以說明為什麼在《左傳》、《國語》中引詩時只有引用周頌會使用「在X曰」的格式。

There are three forms for quoting the lines of poems and documents as seen in the Zuozhuan and Guoyu, i.e. "zai X yue", "X yue /yun", and "X you zhi yue". This paper specifies the distinction between these three forms as follows: the quotations following "zai X yue" express something which the speakers assume is familiar to the listeners; the quotations following "X you zhi yue" convey information which the speakers presuppose that the listeners are unfamiliar with; the quotations following "X yue /yun" are neutral in presupposition, and are put to use when speakers are uncertain about the extent of the listener's familiarity with the content or alternatively adopt a measured arrangement to ensure comprehension. In addition, formed from this conclusion and further investigation of the conditions as to quoting poems in the Zuozhuan and Guoyu, we propose that the earliest collection of the Shijing are those poems collected in the Daya and Xiaoya, next in order, those in the Guofeng, and thereafter those in the Song. The Zhousong did not yield its independence until 600-650 B.C., which can explain why the form of "zai X yue" is only used to quote the poems of the Zhousong in the Zuozhuan and Guoyu.