Brief grammatical definitions are followed by sentences illustrating usage. Immediately thereafter, students are invited to try out their understanding of the grammar involved by completing sentences and English-to-Chinese translations. Each grammatical section is regrettably brief. Instructors are requested to devise extra sentences or applications, time permitting.A common assumption in the field of teaching Chinese as a second language is that 'grammar' is a business for first-year students and instructors. We take a different stand in this book and demonstrate that there is plenty of 'intermediate grammar' to cover, even towards the end of the second year. Some grammatical points introduced here are used in advanced level colloquial speech and some are literary, but commonly used in daily conversation by educated native speakers.
We also believe that students using this book should fine-tune their mastery of the modern language by being able to compare one grammatical usage with another of the same linguistic element. Therefore, many grammatical elements covered in this book are given an integrated presentation at the risk of repetition.
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Tunghai University
University of Massachusetts,
Amherst
National
Taiwan Normal University
The Institute of Teaching Chinese as a
Second Language
