PaoYu Posted November 26, 2006 at 02:09 AM Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 at 02:09 AM Title says it all, really! What is generally considered to be the best grammar book for beginner/intermediate learners? I'm learning traditional characters so that's definitely preferable, but not crucial for learning the grammar. Ones that have thus far caught my eye: Chinese (essential grammars) and Chinese comprehensive grammar what do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novemberfog Posted November 26, 2006 at 04:44 AM Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 at 04:44 AM I really like Intermediate Chinese Grammar by Don Remmington and Po-ching Yip. I know they also make a beginner's book and a comphrensive grammar as well. I liked this series because the text focuses on grammar, it has a wealth of exercises to work with, and answers are in the back as well. It is quite good for self-study. I would not get the hard-back edition though, 70 pounds sterling is too much. I think I paid $20 for the paperback version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fulgentius Posted November 26, 2006 at 06:33 PM Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 at 06:33 PM It depends on whether you want a reference book or a workbook with exercises. I have only browsed through the others, but having finally settled on this one I'm very happy with it: Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar It doesn't have any exercises, but it's a great reference book. It's saved me a lot of time doing translations or straightening out areas that I was confused about. Very easy to find everything, very clearly written, much much cheaper than the Po-Ching books. Oh, and what do you know? They've come out with a companion workbook. Oh, and everything is written in BOTH simplified and traditional characters. The Yip Po-Ching books are only simplified, IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wichita Posted November 27, 2006 at 05:30 PM Report Share Posted November 27, 2006 at 05:30 PM I'm not an expert opinion on the matter, but I did enjoy the Chinese (Essential Grammar) you linked to above. The library here at Purdue has several books of the Essential Grammar series. I looked through the Chinese and Finnish books of the series and found the layout to be logical and efficient in terms of presenting the material. I think they are even reasonable as a supplement for beginners' studies. They do suffer from a lack of vocabulary, so would be a poor stand alone study resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novemberfog Posted December 5, 2006 at 12:19 AM Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 at 12:19 AM Vocab is important, but you can purchase readers to gain new vocab. My Chinese reading seriously started to improve when I decided to use separate texts for each task. I found that the integrated texts for everything work really well in the beginning, but they start to stunt growth at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandarinstudent Posted December 5, 2006 at 02:22 AM Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 at 02:22 AM I would say that Beginning Chinese is a really good book for grammar. It has a downside in that there are no characters (pinyin only), but this book really breaks down the sentence structures and gives millions of examples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wichita Posted December 6, 2006 at 04:02 PM Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 at 04:02 PM I am a big fan of Beginner's Chinese by Yong Ho. It is a very nice balance of grammar with introductory vocabulary and conversation. I think it gives a nice foundation for overall confidence. I also have ordered the Intermediate Chinese followup as well, but haven't gotten into studying it yet. After going through Yong Ho's system, the grammar in the Essential Grammar in the first post on this thread is a lot easier to grasp so that studies could continue with the grammar book, and a dictionary. Oh...and a good source of reading material as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sannomiya Posted March 6, 2008 at 01:31 PM Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 at 01:31 PM hey all. just wondering if anyone knew where to get "modern mandarin chinese grammar", preferably somewhere in the haidian district. i was planning on jumping from bookstore to bookstore, but thought it might be easier to ask if anyone has seen a copy at a specific bookstore. i checked the bookstores in wangfujing to take a look, but couldn't seem to find a copy. also, anyone have any opinions on the book? thanks a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLCUP Posted March 19, 2008 at 04:50 AM Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 at 04:50 AM I recommend A Course in Chinese Grammar, It's Beijing Language and Culture University's excellent book you can find information about this from http://www.blcup.com/list_info.asp?id=197 or(english)http://www.blcup.com/en/list_1.asp?id=197 BLCUP have published over 30 titles on grammar, I hope you can find one from BLCUP. www.blcup.com or www.blcup.com/en/ type keywords eg:grammar or 语法 you will find some. If you have questions about choosing a book, please feel free to contact me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEye Posted March 19, 2008 at 06:22 AM Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 at 06:22 AM I like Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar. It's in simplified and traditional, with pinyin underneath. Yeah, Beginning Chinese by DeFrancis is in pinyin, but you can also get the character version of the book (which I recommend). But I wouldn't really call it a grammar book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Barkley Posted March 26, 2009 at 01:48 PM Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 at 01:48 PM I am sure this has been done but a brief search didn't turn up anything specific, so I thought I would create a new topic. I started studying Chinese recently and was wondering if anyone has recommendations for grammar books or grammar dictionaries, either in English or Japanese. While studying Japanese, I came across, and benefited greatly from, a set of 3 grammar dictionaries that together encompass the whole of "useful" Japanese grammar and are divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. The dictionaries also stood out for their clear explanations, especially in how similar grammatical structures differ from each other, easy to read format, and liberal use of examples. The Chinese books that I have used so far (the first of New Practical Chinese Reader, and 4 books in a series called "speed-up chinese" have decent dialogues and vocab but awful grammar explanations. The explanations use English that would be unintelligible to all native English speakers save those with masters in ESL or linguistics (and even they might struggle). If anyone could recommend a grammar book that makes the difficult easy and the convoluted...uh, voluted...please let me know. Cheers. The Round Mound of Rebound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaxiu Posted March 26, 2009 at 03:12 PM Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 at 03:12 PM Try this one 'A very good grammatical book' http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/5481-a-very-good-grammatical-book&highlight=Grammar also Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge Grammars) by Yip Po-Ching Intermediate Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge Grammars) by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymoose Posted March 27, 2009 at 03:41 PM Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 at 03:41 PM I agree with chaxiu about the «Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook» (Routledge Grammars) by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington. That's the book I started on about 8 years ago, and in all the time I've been learning Chinese, I don't think I've found a better book at beginner level. The «Intermediate Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook» is also good, but you will need other supplementary material when you get to this level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanshotree Posted October 1, 2009 at 05:37 AM Report Share Posted October 1, 2009 at 05:37 AM Hello, I'm new to the forum! Thank you for having me!!! I have been studying Chinese at a desultory pace for 3 years. A lesson once a week, and no time to do homework! You can imagine progress is very slow. I have tried several teachers here in Tokyo, and apart from the fact that none of them are 'real' teachers of Chinese, (even though they are well-qualified in terms of university degrees),and are therefore unaware of their language, they are also accustomed to teaching Japanese students and are unaware of the problems involved for people who have not learned some kind of Chinese characters from the age of six. Anyway, I need some help for simple things like the difference between usage of 由 and 被. Has anyone seen this grammar book? If you know it, I would be grateful for some comments, as it is not cheap! Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (Modern Grammars) by Claudia Ross and Jing-heng Sheng Ma There is also a workbook to go with it. The blurb at Amazon sounded good, and I'm desperate for somewhere to go to for answers! I haven't seen the ones recommended above. Grammar books I have seen by Chinese authors (forgive me, I'm not trying to be rude) have grammar explanations written in terms absolutely beyond me. Sanshotree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted October 1, 2009 at 07:32 AM Report Share Posted October 1, 2009 at 07:32 AM I haven't seen the book myself, but Claudia Ross is a respected author in the field, so that would probably be a good choice if you can get your hands on a copy. I would personally recommend Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar, which offers easy-to-understand explanations and lots of exercises in a very accessible format. And I just noticed it's by the same author! Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar is probably a lot more detailed, since it's not an outline, but as I said, I've never used that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Horhe Posted October 1, 2009 at 08:47 AM Report Share Posted October 1, 2009 at 08:47 AM I have both the practical guide and the workbook - they're great for learners of all levels, especially elementary and intermediate. I also recommend A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners, although it might be a bit too technical when compared to the former. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrkarahan Posted October 19, 2009 at 09:25 AM Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 at 09:25 AM I am not in China now, but I ve been there for University Language course. I can speak fluently but have difficulties in reading and writing, and I think it comes from my not being so good at chinese grammer. If any idea, please share with me.. If any pdf or word file you have, please dont hesitate to send me. emre_karahan@hotmail.com Thanks a lot..:help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilipLean Posted October 19, 2009 at 11:08 AM Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 at 11:08 AM Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar by Claudia Ross, Jing-heng Sheng Ma, Baozhang He http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Mandarin-Chinese-Grammar-Grammars/dp/0415700108/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255950252&sr=8-1 This is very good, read the reviews on that page, you might find the workbook useful also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinalFan18 Posted October 26, 2009 at 03:27 AM Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 at 03:27 AM Looking for a book with an easy to understand yet comprehensive overview of modern Mandarin grammar. I want something that will teach me more than just the basics of the language and go much more in depth. Been looking at Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar by Claudia Ross and Jing-heng Sheng Ma, Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar by Charles N. Li and Sandra A. Thompson, etc. Any suggestions? Any great websites focused on grammar / grammar practice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted October 27, 2009 at 06:03 AM Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 at 06:03 AM As said above, Claudia Ross's Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar is supposed to be very good, although I cannot vouch for it myself since I used a relatively new Dutch grammar (that is in the process of being translated into English). Her Outline, which I have used, is certainly easy to understand and quite comprehensive. It also features lots of exercises and contains both simplified and traditional characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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