The main objective of Chinese-English Contrastive Grammar: An Introduction is to familiarize the reader with a subset of the learning difficulties and common errors in ESL/EFL pronunciation and lexico-grammatical structures encountered by Chinese learners and users of English, in Hong Kong and beyond. It also helps readers understand some of the ways in which the Chinese language has undergone structural change as a result of Europeanization. The book begins with a review of Cantonese-English contrastive phonology and is followed by a detailed analysis of lexico-grammatical deviations found among Chinese ESL/EFL learners. It concludes with a brief history of the Europeanization of the Chinese language and a discussion of commonly encountered lingua-cultural problems encountered by Chinese users of English in intercultural communication settings. This book is written primarily for teachers and students specializing in language-related disciplines. Scholars who wish to understand the acquisitional challenges for Chinese students in the process of learning English as an additional language will also find the book an informative reference. ‘David C. S. Li and Zoe Pei-sui Luk’s brand new introduction to Chinese-English contrastive grammar covers a number of key topics and comes with copious data, abundant exemplification, and in-depth analyses. A must-read for all who are interested in the similarities and differences between the two languages, and why.’ —K. K. Luke, Nanyang Technological University ‘This is a book which has long been needed. Drawing on their own research and teaching experience, the authors have produced a linguistically accurate and insightful, but also very readable book. It should be required reading for language teachers in Hong Kong and the Greater China region.’ —Stephen Matthews, University of Hong Kong

This volume represents the first book-length corpus-based contrastive studies of major grammatical categories in English and Chinese, two most important yet distinctly different world languages in the 21st century, on the basis of large matching corpora of authentic spoken and written data in the two languages.

Learn and review Chinese grammar at a glance Of all the obstacles you face while learning a new language, grammar is one of the toughest. But now there's a way to learn the subtleties of grammar without all the headaches. Side by Side Chinese & English Grammar is the perfect tool to help you understand the similarities and differences between English and Chinese grammar. By learning Chinese grammar through comparisons to your native English language, you are able to build on what you already know. You will be better able to understand and remember Chinese grammar while writing, speaking, and being tested on Chinese usage. This innovative grammar guide includes: Clear and comprehensive introductions to the parts of speech, explaining their functions and answering common questions about them Quick Check sections that summarize main ideas Appendices that identify possible grammar trouble spots, such as measure words and individual classifiers Numerous verb charts with side-by-side Chinese and English translations for easy understanding of each tense's meaning An exercise section with answer key to test and review your knowledge Side by Side Chinese & English Grammar gives you a firm grasp of the structure of both languages and sets the stage for true language mastery.

In order to help foreign learners to learn the essentials of written Chinese more effectively, this book is compiled in a brand-new pattern and up-to-date manner. Meticulous work has been done to simplify the complicated framework of Chinese so that the English-speaking learners will find it easy to learn. The book, which consists of 18 chapters, discusses all the essentials of basic Chinese in a comprehensive and systematical way. Chinese auxiliaries, classifiers and word groups which so often puzzle the westerners, as well as the structures of Chinese sentences and the rules of their construction, are dealt with minutely by giving numerous illustrative sentences along with their English translation. Special paragraphs are devoted to comparison between Chinese and English where necessary. This book adopts the system of Chinese grammatical terms, definition and classification prevailing in various types of schools in China universally accepted by the Chinese people as a whole. Lastly, this book is designed to be a practical work for the foreign learners who have already mastered a certain number of Chinese words and expressions and the simple rules of Chinese grammar. It is suitable for work in class and for students or self-learners working on their own.

This book introduces a contrastive analysis of Chinese and English syntax based on generative grammar. It covers major syntactic domains, including but not limited to noun phrases, verb phrases, the inflectional domain, the discourse-related domain and ellipsis. Based on the empirical data drawn from both Chinese and English, and recast in modern linguistic terminology, the book introduces various rules and theoretical modules from the generative framework to analyze the similarities and differences between Chinese and English syntax. The chapters are arranged such that the book moves from the easiest syntactic topics gradually towards the more complex and advanced ones. Each chapter includes a short summary of major points and references for further reading. Readers are not required to have background knowledge in syntax. The book can serve as a textbook or a reference book for scholars of Chinese studies, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL), Chinese linguistics, comparative linguistics and theoretical linguistics.