Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (Modern Grammars) [Paperback]

Claudia Ross (Author), Jing-heng Sheng Ma (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0415700108 | ISBN-13: 978-0415700108 | Edition: Bilingual

Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar is an innovative reference guide to Mandarin Chinese, combining traditional and function-based grammar in a single volume.

Divided into two sections closely linked by extensive cross-references, it covers:

• traditional grammatical categories such as phrase order, nouns, verbs and specifiers
• language functions and notions such as communication strategies, giving and seeking information, expressing apologies, regrets and sympathies.

With all grammar points and functions richly illustrated with examples, and a strong emphasis on contemporary usage, the main features of this Grammar include examples in simplified characters, traditional characters, and romanization (Pinyin) as well as an emphasis on areas of particular difficulty for learners of Mandarin Chinese.

This is the ideal reference grammar for learners of Mandarin Chinese at all levels, from elementary to advanced. No prior knowledge of grammatical terminology is assumed and a glossary of grammatical terms is provided. Featuring related exercises and activities, this Grammar is accompanied by the Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'...exceptionally useful, accessible and easy-to-use grammar.' - Forum for Modern Language Studies

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; Bilingual edition (August 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415700108
• ISBN-13: 978-0415700108
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 1.3 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Two Part Intermediate Book That Beginners Can Benefit From May 23, 2007

By Rahman

Format:Paperback

There is a recent influx of excellent materials on learning Mandarin Chinese, both conversational and written. This includes audio books and written materials, as well as excellent multimedia works. Computerized instruction is becoming more prominent. One just beginning this subject a number of years ago may have had difficulty finding sufficient instruction on the subject, now that situation may be reversing to where one must instead select from a far larger pool, the most appropriate materials for individual focus.

In most if not all cases, this book is a welcome, perhaps even essential, addition to those instructional materials. The authors are clearly passionate on this subject, and have created a work that is organized, and which spans a wide array of topics expertly. Arguably most beneficial for and targeted to intermediates in the language, this book will also be beneficial for one having only recently started Mandarin Chinese as well.

The first part of this book is 17 chapters in length, and overviews the ubiquitous Pinyin romanization, followed by lessons in the important similarities and differences in word order for typical sentences in Mandarin, in comparison to English. There are a surprising number of similarities, along with significant and noteworthy differences. After this, various parts of speech are detailed, specifically adjectives and adverbs, prepositions, and numerous forms of nouns and verbs. The reason for omitting other parts of speech becomes evident. There is also included in this first part a large chapter on numbers, one that goes into far more detail and explanation of different usages than most books do....

The second part of the book, the 43 remaining chapters of the 60 total in this book, provides a plethora of scenarios and common situations. This includes greetings and introductions, name usage, modern communication including internet and telecommunication, speaking in different tenses, questions and negation, discussing time, transportation and travel phrases, cause and effect and conditionals, guest and host scenarios and etiquette, expressing concerns desires and needs, requesting permission, and invitations regrets apologies and wishing others well, among other topics.

Every one of the nearly 400 pages is filled with practical sentences used in daily discourse, along with new vocabulary, pinyin as well as Mandarin characters, and well thought out explanations of and elaborations upon the examples provided. Common error avoidance and helpful hints for a typical English speaker are provided throughout.

There is a separate workbook available, associated with this one, that quizzes understanding of each of the chapters. Additionally, there are two books published earlier by Schaum's, one by one of the authors (Claudia Ross). Perusing the table of contents of both, it appears that this work is a confluence of the best of both of those earlier texts, and can be considered a new edition of that earlier grammar book.

The look and feel of this book is excellent. The typefaces used and occasional diagrams provided are elegantly done and are a pleasure to read. The paperback edition has a solid and sturdy feel to it, and the thick paper used gives the impression this is meant to be used as a long term reference work. Each chapter is clearly separated by page as well as visually, and is further subdivided and organized into smaller subsections, also made visually prominent within the chapter.

A very highly recommended work, focusing primarily upon intermediate level subject matter, yet presented in such a way that beginners can get an admirable jumpstart from it as well. The grammar rules of the language, along with sentence level word positioning in Mandarin, are presented in meticulous detail. This can easily supplement any of the typical beginning audio/visual or written instructional materials available on speaking conversational Mandarin Chinese. Read more ›

75 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book November 3, 2006

By Harold Goodman

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Speak Mandarin Chinese For BeginnersThe Michel Thomas Method (8-CD Beginner's Program)Michel Thomas Method Speak Mandarin Chinese Advanced

I am the author of the Michel Thomas courses to learn spoken Mandarin. Innovative approaches to language teaching is one of my passions. So I am always on the lookout for texts and resources to support me in my journey.

I have used most of the Chinese grammars out there. This is far and away the best. The entire series is outstanding. Why? Because it's totally practical without getting stuck in grammatical obscurities. It reflects the actual, contemporary use of the language as it is used by ordinary, educated speakers.

The first half of the book reviews all aspects of the grammar in a user-friendly way. The second half of the volume deals with how to express anything you could wish to say in contemporary Chinese using the patterns of the language as would a native speaker.

Over the time I spent designing cutting edge courses for English ( and now also French) speakers to really learn to speak Mandarin in the least amount of time this book was one of my most valuable resources. I cannot recommend it enough.

What I have found is that I continue to return to Modern Chinese Grammar year after year and am always happily surprised with its simple explanation of potentially complex topics.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Replaced my old Chinese Grammar books February 24, 2008

By Cyberia

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

After having used previous Chinese grammar books, such as those from Yip Po-ching, I found this one to offer a better organization of grammar patterns. The book is split into two sections. The first focuses on grammar patterns and the other which focuses on situational aspects of the language. These two approaches works great when learning how best to put together sentences.

The book presents the material in Simplified/Traditional/PinYin. I also went ahead and got the workbook for this text and was also greatly pleased with the exercises presented.

I would follow up your Chinese studies with a character dictionary (focusing on the 2000 most frequently used characters), and a vocabulary book such as those offered by HSK. With these resources you'll likely succeed in your Chinese studies. Oh, and don't forget ChinesePod; it's a great resource for Chinese listening comprehension.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST HAVE FOR LEARNERS OF CHINESE......... November 1, 2007

By Wesley Wong

Format:Paperback

As a American student of Chinese living in Beijing, China I would have to say that this book is absolutely and wonderfully amazing in content, depth and most of all in it's ability to be CLEAR AND UNDERSTANDABLE. Most of the books produced here that I have seen that are for foreigners learning Chinese are unfortunately in my opinion produced by people who are educators and NOT learners of the Chinese language. I say this because most books apparently assume that the learner knows things that they do, BUT THEY USUALLY DO NOT. I say this because as a teacher of English as well, it is apparent that I am guilty of this as well and often over look very very basic grammatical points in my teachings because I "assume" the student will know certain things.

As a student of Chinese I have been constantly frustrated by textbooks supposedly produced for Chinese learning which always do not include basic information and grammatical points making it difficult if not impossible to learn the language. More importantly many of these books do not include English in it's explanations of the grammar increasing the difficulty of learning the language. This book allows novice students such as myself the ability to find the necessary information they need quickly, simply, and clearly without getting lost. It is also a book I can see using for a very long time during more advanced studies of the language.

In studying Chinese I have yet to find a book solely devoted to understanding the basic grammar structure of Chinese. The few ones that I have found are often written ironically in Chinese which makes it doubly difficult to understand the structure of the Chinese language by someone who has no knowledge of the language....

I wish this book was used as a required reference for all learners of Chinese. There is nothing that I have seen (and I have reviewed and used alot of Chinese textbooks) that comes evenly remotely close to the quality, depth, scope, and most importantly usefulness of this book. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN CHINESE.........BUY THIS BOOK ! Read more ›