一 + 动词 + 了之
to just … and treat the matter as closed; to brush a problem aside by …
Structure
（把 问题） 一 单音节动词 了之 ／ 不能／没有 一 动词 了之
What it means
To do one quick thing and treat the matter as settled, brushing the real problem aside. 了 is liǎo (“to settle”) and 之 is “it”.
How it is built
(把 + problem) + 一 + one-syllable verb + 了之: 开发商却一走了之 (yet the developer simply walked away). Also 一推了之 (pass the buck), 一拆了之, 一罚了之, 一删了之, 一关了之.
When to use it
Apart from 一笑了之 (laugh it off), it is critical: editorials, documents and complaints use it for a lazy fix, often after 不能, 不应 or 没有. 一拖再拖 keeps putting a problem off; this gets rid of it unsolved.
Watch out
Nothing follows it: ✗一推了之矛盾 ✓把矛盾一推了之. The verb has one syllable: ✗一处理了之. Read 了 as liǎo, never le.
Examples
居委会没有把矛盾一推了之。
The residents’ committee did not simply wash its hands of the dispute.
老楼改造不能一拆了之，住在里面的人也得安置好。
Renewing old blocks cannot simply mean knocking them down and being done with it; the people who live in them have to be properly rehoused.
房子出了质量问题，开发商却一走了之，业主们只好自己想办法。
The flats turned out to be badly built, yet the developer simply walked away, and the owners were left to sort it out themselves.
Learn this in Lesson 129 · HSK 7–9: 老小区加装电梯 (Putting lifts into old blocks)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. This lesson is free.
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