拿…来说【ná…lái shuō】

拿 + X + 来说 brings in one example after a general statement, and the clause that follows shows how the claim holds for X. 就 often goes in front: 就拿…来说.

X is usually a person, a place or a group the speaker knows well. The pattern needs a claim to support: with nothing for X to be an example of, the listener is left asking "an example of what?". For a quick list of examples inside a sentence, 比如 is the word.

拿…来说 or 对…来说

Both end in 来说, but 拿我来说 offers me as an example and 对我来说 gives my point of view, "for me".

• × 拿我来说，这个菜太辣了 → 对我来说，这个菜太辣了 (for "it's too spicy for me")