#grammar reference

I read some of this book Side by Side Chinese and English Grammar by by Feng-hsi Liu, Rongrong Liao, Xiaozhou Wu, C. Frederick Farrell. And one point it really helped me grasp was the variety of ways de 的  is used.

I quickly grasped the idea of 的  as a possessive like English 's. Wo de ma. shen wei de beizi. (my mom, shen wei's cup).

And de as an attributive like hongse de zixingche 红色 的 自行车 (red de bike). Here's an All Set Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki article about those aspects.

But 的 can also be used to mark a clause. So for English, we have some sentences where the descriptive part of a sentence is in the middle. Here is an example:

The baker's son, [the person who bought from me last week], is coming in today to pick something up.

In Chinese, the middle clause might be moved to the front and then followed by a 的:

[person-who-bought-from-me-last-week] de baker's son is coming in today to pick something up.

These cases confused the fuck out of me until I read Side by Side Chinese and English Grammar. I thought the de always was just doing the attributive 'last week de bakers son' function in these sentences, and could not figure out that the whole first clause of the sentence was tying de to the following piece of the sentence. De is kind of serving as the comma , in English. And the clause order is different than the order in English. I think maybe this grammar point is like when a phrase is connected to the next bit with de.

We don't always put a comma in, to separate our relative clauses in English, but sometimes we do. I try to think of the de 的 like the commas we can use to separate relative clauses and identify them in English.

I am trying to find an All Set Learning Chinese Grammar wiki article on this particular grammar point, I'm not having any luck. This is the closest I can find "的 (de) can also be used to link a whole phrase to a noun".

The grammar point I really mean is when de is used to connect a relative clause.

Like in this example below I got from Google: "那个刚走进店里的男的" (nà ge gāng zǒu jìn diàn lǐ de nán de) translates to "the man who just walked into the shop," where "刚走进店里" (gāng zǒu jìn diàn lǐ) is the relative clause modifying "男的" (nán de) (man)."

You can see how in English it would be: The man, who just walked into the shop, [next part of sentence]...

In Chinese, instead it is: The-just-walked in-shop de guy [next part of sentence]...

Achieve IELTS Grammar and Vocabulary

This book examines the grammar and vocabulary needed for IELTS in over 70 different sections. The book is from the popular Achieve IELTS series of books and seeks to enhance the general English language proficiency of the test participants.

Achieve IELTS Grammar And Vocabulary helps IELTS candidates understand and learn grammar and vocabulary. This is one of the best and most prestigious collections for IELTS International Grammar and Vocabulary Exam Preparation and is suitable for IELTS 4.5 to 7.5 learners. The book contains an answer sheet and an audio CD.

IELTS is one of the international tests in English that everyone who knows this language is least familiar with. The test is held in two different types: Academic and General Training. Those who wish to continue their studies in English-speaking universities must take the academic type of test, and those who intend to travel to English-speaking countries in order to pass short-term vocational, work or residency courses. 

Download-

 Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English Workbook (Grammar Reference).

 Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English Workbook

To the student

We designed this Workbook to give you practice in analyzing English grammar and understanding how it works in real communication. The Workbook differs from other grammar textbooks known to us in its exclusive focus on how English is actually used. All examples in the exercises are taken from naturally occurring English texts and conversations, rather than being invented, idealized language.

Advantages of this Workbook

The focus on real language has three advantages.

First, authentic instances of how people really use the language are more interestingthan made-up sentences. They can even be fun! It is often entertaining to see whatpeople actually say and write.

Second, analyzing authentic examples will give you the tools you need as Englishlanguage students and professionals. Authentic pieces of English can be messy, andless 'tidy' than made-up sentences. But a book with made-up sentences would not have prepared you to understand the use of grammar in natural settings. For example, if you become an English teacher, your students will ask you to explain the grammar of real language use: sentences in their essays, or snatches they heard on the radio or read in a newspaper. Also, during the rest of your time as a student, it is likely that you will be surrounded by authentic English: in conversations, lectures, textbooks, newspapers, and so on. This Workbook will give you the practice and tools needed to analyze the grammatical structure of the language around you.

Third, in our focus on authentic language we explicitly contrast the grammar of spoken and written English.You will quickly discover that the typical grammatical constructions of conversation are very different from those found in academic writing.You will probably be especially surprised by the grammar of conversation: rather than consisting of simple one-clause sentences (as you might imagine from some textbooks), you will find that conversation regularly makes use of complex-seeming structures with many kinds of embedding, as well as a generous sprinkling of ultrasimple structures which have no verb and contain only one or two words. In contrast, written texts build up their complexity with longer phrases, with much embedding of one phrase in another. By examining and contrasting the grammar of these different kinds of language, you will gain the expertise and insight needed to apply your knowledge in real communication.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Download Page

em dash (comma, parathesis, colon)

en dash (number range, scores, conflict/connection)

"Welcome to the Style Academy, an online collection of resources to help you improve your writing. We designed these tutorials and exercises for writing students at any level from advanced grade school to college, but we hope anyone--anywhere--who wants to take control of their writing might find the resources here useful."