Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide

Introduction.  How to use this book.  Part A Structures: 1. Overview of pronunciation and Pinyin romanization  2. Syllable, meaning, and word  3. The Chinese writing system: an overview  4. Phrase order in the Mandarin sentence  5. Nouns  6. Numbers  7. Specifiers and demonstratives  8. Classifiers  9. Noun phrases 10. Adjectival verbs  11. Stative verbs  12. Modal verbs  13. Action verbs  14. Prepositions and prepositional phrases  15. Adverb  16. Conjunctions 17.Aspect  18. Resultative verbs  19. Directional verbs  20.   ba sentences: The \'disposal\' construction  21. The passive  Part B: Situations and functions  22. Names, kinship terms, titles, and terms of address  23. Introductions  24. Greetings and goodbyes  25. Basic strategies for communication  26. Telecommunications and e-communications: telephones, the internet, and faxes  27. Negating information  28. Asking questions and replying to questions  29. Expressing identification, possession, and existence  30. Describing people, places, and things  31. Describing how actions are performed 32. Indicating result, conclusion, potential, and extent  33. Making comparisons  34. Talking about the present  35. Talking about habitual actions  36. Talking about the future 37. Indicating completion and talking about the past  38. Talking about change, new situations, and changing situations  39. Talking about duration and frequency  40. Expressing additional information  41. Expressing contrast  42. Expressing sequence  43. Expressing simultaneous situations  44. Expressing cause and effect or reason and result  45. Expressing conditions  46. Expressing \'both,\' \'all,\' \'every,\' \'any,\' \'none,\' \'not any,\' and \'no matter how\' 47. Expressing location and distance  48. Talking about movement, directions, and means of transportation 49. Talking about clock time and calendar time  50. Expressing obligations and prohibitions 51 Expressing commands and permission  52. Expressing ability and possibility  53. Expressing desires, needs, preferences, and willingness  54. Expressing knowledge, advice, and opinions  55. Expressing fear, worry, and anxiety  56. Expressing speaker attitudes and perspectives  57. Topic, focus, and emphasis  58. Guest and host  59. Giving and responding to compliments 60. Expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction  61. Expressing gratitude and responding to expressions of gratitude  62. Invitations, requests, and refusals  63. Expressing apologies, regrets, sympathy, and bad news  64. Expressing congratulations and good wishes  Answer key  Index