Best Chinese grammar book?

[anwenjie]

I just bought Mondern Mandarin Chinese Grammar myself and I have only good things to say about it so far. The book is split up into two parts: 'Structures' and 'Situations and Functions'. Although they overlap, it's a very logical way of writing a grammar book I think. The first part reviews all important grammar points and part two elaborates on them and show you how to use it in different specific situations. I haven't had any other Chinese grammar book in my hands, but I honestly can't imagine finding a better one than this.

[RuiXue]

The Modern Chinese Grammar book mentioned many times here is very good. I used it as compliment to my course litterature when taking a Chinese course a few years back. Another book which is good but less bulky to carry is Basic Chinese Grammar and Workbook by Yip- Po- Ching and Don Rimmington.

I've forgotten most things I learned from the courses due to lack of time to maintain it:oops: So I'm just about to dive into my good old grammar books again:lol:

[Charles Barkley]

After asking earlier in this thread, I ended up buying Basic Chinese Grammar and Workbook by Yip- Po- Ching and Don Rimmington.

It explains things in relatively plain english, has plenty of examples and good exercises. Overall quite content, though I can't compare it to the other books mentioned in the thread.

[Lugubert]

To my taste, Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington: Chinese. A Comprehensive Grammar is much better than their Essential. Fuller coverage, easier to find what you're looking for.

[Neil_H]

I have Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar and can recomend it.

[chrix]

Daan, what's the title of the grammar you're using?

I'm partial to Li and Thompson. Like Yip and Remmington too.

However from a learner's point of view, I think Ross and Shang-ma is quite good, due to its two-fold approach. I don't like Ross's grammar for Schaum though.

If you read Japanese, やさしくくわしい中国文法の基礎 by 守屋宏則 is an excellent choice not only for beginners.

[Daan]

It's a quite recent one, available only in Dutch at the moment, although I believe an English translation is forthcoming. It's called Grammatica van het Mandarijn (by Jeroen Wiedenhof) and it's based on a very good corpus of spoken Mandarin. It's accessible to learners, but there are lots of theoretical notes of interest to students of Chinese linguistics. I can highly recommend it!

[chrix]

Thanks, Daan. Yes, I've heard that name before. I'll see if I can find it in a university library...

[Daan]

Oh, right, I'd completely forgotten you read Dutch! In that case, I definitely think you should have a look. Even though you might not agree with some of the theories put forward (especially on topic-comment structures), it's well worth your while, I think, if only for the vivid sentences pulled from the author's own corpus. In that aspect, the work resembles Chao Yuen Ren's grammar. Li and Thompson are also discussed at length.

However, I don't think there are many libraries in the States that would buy Dutch books. In fact, I just checked and WorldCat seems to think the only copy across the pond resides in the New York Public Library. Let me know if you want to read it, but have trouble getting hold of it. I'll see if there's anything I can do

[HashiriKata]

I'll see if there's anything I can do

Sure you can translate it for us

[Daan]

Haha, yeah, I'm afraid I don't have a year or so to spare, otherwise I would gladly oblige you

However, I believe, as I posted earlier, that an English translation is forthcoming. I'm not sure when that project will be finished, though. Might be a while still

[Kai13]

I have modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar, as I'm still a very beginner, I still haven't read it as it should be read, I just read the intro.

I still haven't understood how the book works, but is it usefull? I mean, it has no exercises...

I'm sorry for the dumb question. I don't have the book with me and won't for some time but I want to know how to work with it as soon as I have it again.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks.

Btw, I bough Yong Ho's Begginer's Chinese, though I already understand some basics. I still haven't used it (lol, though I'm a a mandarin major in college, but I have been having some work with the other subjects)

[Don_Horhe]

The Workbook has exercises, I'm assuming you only have the Practical Guide.

[Kai13]

Yup, I don't have the workbook |:

[Zomac]

Practical English Usage by Michael Swan is a kind of English grammar bible for English learners. Do you know any Chinese grammar book that explains common mistakes and grammar issue in similar style?

See Practice English Usage

http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/isbn/7978?cc=global

Sample pages

http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/isbn/7978?cc=global#sample_pdf

[roddy]

Merged the above.

[anonymoose]

One of the most comprehensive grammar books I've found is 实用对外汉语教学语法, published by Peking University Press.

It's main advantage is that it covers each point in much more detail than most other grammar books. So all the questions that one usually has unanswered after reading most grammar books, this book deals with.

The disadvantages are, firstly, this book is entirely in Chinese, so unless you already are at a high intermediate or advanced level, it won't really be accessible to you. And secondly, because it goes into everything in excruciating detail, it can be quite dry to read.

So as a reference book, it's excellent, probably the best and most comprehensive I've seen so far, but it's not the kind of book you'd want to use as your primary learning resource.

[Etwood]

Last time I was in China I bought this book:

http://www.amazon.cn/HSK%E8%80%83%E5%89%8D%E5%BC%BA%E5%8C%96-%E8%AF%AD%E6%B3%95-%E8%8B%97%E4%B8%9C%E9%9C%9E/dp/B0011B0IDG

HSK考前强化:语法 (初，中级）

and also the 高级 one. I haven't had a chance to use them yet, but they don't look too bad. There is absolutely no English in them though, so probably not ideal for beginners.

Anyone had experience with these books?

(Hope that link works <_< )

[Don_Horhe]

I'm currently going through the HSK考前强化:语法 (初，中级）, and I'm quite pleased with it. The explanations are clear and straightforward, and there are example sentences for every grammar point. The only drawback is, as you said, that there isn't a single word of English in it, but, at the 初，中 levels, this shouldn't be a problem. The first part of the book is available (legally) online here. Don't let the title page confuse you - they've put up a picture of another HSK preparation book - 全攻略.

I also have the 3 高级 books from the same series - 语法, 写作 and 口试.

The 高级 grammar basically goes over the same stuff as the 初，中 one, but it goes into a lot more detail. The exercises are also differently structured.

写作 has a chapter for every type of letter/essay - 求职信, 推荐信, 祝贺信, 感谢信, 慰问信, 记叙文, 说明文, and 议论文, covering the general structure and style of each type, as well as providing frequently used expressions and sentence patterns. It also has two chapters on error analysis. I haven't looked through the 口试 one, and I've already sent it back home, so I can't really say anything about it.

[JenniferW]

I also like Intermediate Chinese Grammar by Don Remmington and Po-ching Yip best - and use it more than a couple of other grammar books I have. I bought the workbook when I bought the grammar but have never got around to using that. I did linguistics before starting to learn Chinese so tend to be picky to the level of twitchiness over grammar books, and this one not only always gives me good explanations, I positively delight in its clarity!