Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook

Writing for students of Mandarin or Modern Standard Chinese, Yip (formerly, Chinese studies, U. of Leeds, UK) and Rimmington (emeritus, East Asian studies, U. of Leeds) explain the most basic elements of Chinese syntax, dealing with simple sentences and the main grammatical categories. The material is organized into units covering singular and plural nouns, definite and indefinite reference and demonstratives, personal pronouns, interrogative pronouns, numbers, measure words, indefinite plurals, times and dates, other interrogative expressions, attributive and predicative adjectives sh穫 and you, comparisons, verbs and location expressions, verbs and time expressions, verbs and aspect markers, modal verbs, negators, types of question, imperatives and exclamations, complements of direction and location, complements of result and manner, potential complements, coverbal phrases, and disyllabic prepositions. Each unit provides follow-up exercises for reinforcement, with extra drills being introduced in this second volume, and a key is provided at the end of the text. Also included are Chinese-to-English and vice-versa vocabulary lists and a glossary of grammatical terms. Annotation 穢2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)