HSK 6 - Pick the sentence with incorrect grammar

[jiasen]

Hi all

 

I've started to prepare to sit the HSK 6 test. Today I went through one of the HSK 6 practice tests, and I felt comfortable with everything except the first part of the written section - namely selecting the sentence with incorrect grammar. I got 1/10 for this part...and I found this really strange especially since written Chinese is my strength and I use it on a daily basis.

 

Anyway I was wondering whether anyone had suggestions on what to look for in these sentences. Are there typical errors they tend to include in these sentences? Are there any typical "tells"? Any set grammar patterns that they are examining?

 

I am doing self study since I work full time and my hours are hectic. So I don't have time to do any courses, unless somebody could recommend a good text on the topic? Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers.

[洋人丹]

I know there are quite a few HSK 6 books that go into what to look for during this part of the test.

 

There are a number of categories of common types of errors that are seen in Chinese writing (by foreign and native writers). If you feel like you have a good handle on your reading skills, you could, along with HSK books, find some books that discuss grammar and common errors commonly seen by Chinese writers (since they are the same as the ones seen on the HSK). Not only can it vastly improve your writing skills, but will help a lot during the test.

 

The other thing you can try is take that practice test that you got 1/10 on, and look through every question. The sentences that you thought had problems in them that didn't, look at what you thought the problem was and figure out why it's actually correct. This can go a long way in getting a better understanding of sentence composition.

 

Also, some sentences have glaringly obvious errors, some you have to dig deeper to figure out it. The problem is, of course, time constraints. 

[jiasen]

I know there are quite a few HSK 6 books that go into what to look for during this part of the test.

 

There are a number of categories of common types of errors that are seen in Chinese writing (by foreign and native writers). If you feel like you have a good handle on your reading skills, you could, along with HSK books, find some books that discuss grammar and common errors commonly seen by Chinese writers (since they are the same as the ones seen on the HSK). Not only can it vastly improve your writing skills, but will help a lot during the test.

 

The other thing you can try is take that practice test that you got 1/10 on, and look through every question. The sentences that you thought had problems in them that didn't, look at what you thought the problem was and figure out why it's actually correct. This can go a long way in getting a better understanding of sentence composition.

 

Also, some sentences have glaringly obvious errors, some you have to dig deeper to figure out it. The problem is, of course, time constraints.

 

 

Thanks for that. I agree with you that it seems to be more a test of writing ability than comprehension. I can understand the meaning of the sentences, and I scored well in the rest of the written section. For work, I tend to use Chinese in emails and letters of advice. So I tend to follow the "keep it simple stupid" rule, otherwise the reader tends to misunderstand (that applies to both English and Chinese). That said, if asked I would really struggle to write sentences anywhere near that level of complexity, and I'm probably a fair way off.

[maggieh]

Hi again - a number of people mentioned study books to help with the HSK 6.   But I can't find anything apart from simulated papers on amazon.  There is one called HSK Level 6 Walkthrough - but I'm not very keen on long lists of vocab. , that's not what I need and without really looking through the materials, I hesitate to buy.       Can any of you recommend exact titles and remember where you bought them?   Thanks so much...

[tooironic]

My advice is I wouldn't worry too much. I was in pretty much the same position as you when I took the test. I had been getting almost full marks for all the other sections, but 1-3 out of 10 for the 病句 section. This is completely normal. Many native speakers can't even do better than that (I tested a number of my friends). Overall it won't stop you passing the writing test, just make sure you leave the section to the end so you don't waste too much time on it. You should, instead, focus on maximizing your score in the other sections of the writing exam, as they are much easier to pass, even if you have trouble understanding the content of the articles in the exam.

[洋人丹]

 

 

Hi again - a number of people mentioned study books to help with the HSK 6.   But I can't find anything apart from simulated papers on amazon.  There is one called HSK Level 6 Walkthrough - but I'm not very keen on long lists of vocab. , that's not what I need and without really looking through the materials, I hesitate to buy.       Can any of you recommend exact titles and remember where you bought them?   Thanks so much...

 

Amazon China has a series called 新汉语水平考试攻略. It has different books for different levels and each section (Listening, reading, and writing). The listening one, from what I understand isn't worth the money, but the writing and reading both give good information. 

 

It lists the different kinds of grammar errors you will see on the test and each practice question gives you the correct answer and tells you why it's wrong. The writing one also gives a lot of information on how to condense the reading, how to write, etc.

[mokushiroku]

I'm reproducing the tips in our book, available for download here. Please don't distribute this outside chinese-forums.com:

 

Tips for Error Recognition:

• Read the grammar guide! This is essential a section full of grammar mistakes. If your grammar is not up-to-date, you’ll have huge problems here.
• Try reading each sentence aloud if you cannot immediately find the mistake. Sometimes something that looks correct sounds incorrect.
• Review the possible types of mistakes that commonly appear in this section. A list follows:

 

1. Missing noun. Remember, Chinese sentences consist of many sections, most of which omit the noun. This is okay, but each section must be clearly linked to a noun. If it isn’t or is ambiguous, it is incorrect.
2. Redundancy. Sometimes two words of the same meaning are put into the sentence, making one redundant. If you see this, you can be sure that the sentence is the incorrect one. This appears most often with adjectives, such as in 很严重极了, which contains adverbs of degree both in front and in the back of the adjective 严重.
3. Meaning. Sometimes the HSK will throw at you a sentence that simply doesn’t make sense. If you cannot find a grammar or diction error, double check the meanings of each sentence. Sometimes one will be illogical or meaningless.
4. Inconsistency. Because most of the sentences are multi-part, a connection exists between each part. If you find inconsistency between two parts, such as a in 他割伤了手脚，感到很开心 (he hurt his arms and legs, so he’s happy), you can know that this sentence is wrong according to the HSK.
5. Word form. Sometimes nouns are used incorrectly as adjectives, adjectives are used incorrectly as verbs, or verbs are used incorrectly as nouns. Be sure to memorize a word’s form when you learn new vocab.
6. Unneeded words. In many grammar forms, certain words are unneeded. The addition of certain words (even when they seem logically needed) will make a sentence wrong, even if they do not change the meaning. One example is 使夫妻的婚姻会无法维持 (it will make a husband and wife’s marriage impossible to maintain). Here, the word 会 is not needed because of the grammatical form: the 使 [noun] [verb] form. Even though putting 会 before the verb might make logical sense (emphasizing a future situation), it is grammatically incorrect in this form, and therefore wrong.
7. Word ordering. Review how words are connected in Chinese sentences before taking the HSK. The HSK will try to trick you by connecting words in grammatically incorrect ways, such as adding adverbs to verbs without connecting words.

[anonymoose]

Inconsistency. Because most of the sentences are multi-part, a connection exists between each part. If you find inconsistency between two parts, such as a in 他割伤了手脚，感到很开心 (he hurt his arms and legs, so he’s happy), you can know that this sentence is wrong according to the HSK.

 

This is the thing I don't like about these HSK questions. So-called inconsistency is relative. The meaning of the quoted sentence is unexpected, but linguistically cannot be considered to be incorrect. For example, maybe the guy wanted to pull an insurance scam, so he was happy when his arms and legs were hurt, as he could then make a claim.

[mokushiroku]

Agreed. But in the HSK test, there is some "Chinese logic" at play.

 

Haven't you ever noticed that the average Chinese person doesn't understand a sentence that's grammatically correct but somewhat strange? I have this experience daily, saying something like:

 

"You have the social skills of a spider."

 

Obviously, my meaning is that few people want to approach you. But clarification is always needed.

 

The same for a sentence like, "I want to get fired."

 

Clearly a joke, yet many Chinese people want clarification to ensure that what they heard is correct.

 

You have to deal with Chinese logic on the HSK, which means dumbing down how you understand the world to a sort of black-and-white. There is no such thing as subjectivity here. If you get cut, you should be sad. If you find a girlfriend, you should be happy.

 

Luckily, the HSK doesn't tackle subjects that are morally ambiguous, such as having a mistress.

 

Just pretend you're an elementary school student and adapt the worldview that most teachers try to instill. You'll be okay for the HSK's more ambiguous situtions.

[MPhillips]

@mokushiroku--I agree, the Chinese people I've known don't really go in much for irony. On the other hand try being around people whose every other utterance is sarcastic (like a number of relatives & acquaintances of mine), it might make you long to be around the relatively straightfoward people of China.

[realmayo]

A bit off-topic but: according to the cliche, Chinese conversations in general are supposedly more loaded with hidden or hinted meanings whereas western ones are more black and white. So in China, saying one thing but meaning another is a normal part of conversation. In English, it's irony. 

[MPhillips]

Food for thought.

[maggieh]

Not sure about who speaks more black and white.  But I agree irony is a big NO NO. 

One thing I am sure of though is that doing the hand writing part of the HSK6 test with a 2B pen is going to KILL me.    I hardly hand write anything these days - even English.  Handwriting more than a paragraph of anything is literally painful and the 2 B pencil is so soft and blurry.   SIGH.