Reference:Basic Chinese - A Grammar and Workbook

Basic Chinese - A Grammar and Workbook by Yip Po-Ching, Don Rimmington, Zhang Xiaoming, Rachel Henson

‘Very well structured and clearly explained’ – Dr Kan Qian, The Open University, UK

Basic Chinese introduces the essentials of Chinese syntax. Each of the 25 units deals with a particular grammatical point and provides associated exercises. Features include:
a clear, accessible format

many useful language examples

jargon-free explanations of grammar

ample drills and exercises

a full key to exercises.

All Chinese entries are presented in both Pinyin romanization and Chinese characters, and are accompanied, in most cases, by English translations to facilitate self-tuition as well as classroom teaching in both spoken and written Chinese.

Basic Chinese is designed for students new to the language. Together with its sister volume, Intermediate Chinese, it forms a compendium of the essentials of Chinese syntax.

Grammar Points by Chapter

Unit One
- Nouns: singular and plural
Unit Two
- Definite and indefinite reference and demonstratives
Unit Three
- Personal pronouns
Unit Four
- Interrogative pronouns
Unit Five
- Numbers
Unit Six
- Measure words
Unit Seven
- Indefinite plurals
Unit Eight
- Times and dates
Unit Nine
- More interrogative questions
Unit Ten
- Adjectives: attributive and predictive
Unit Eleven
- 是 shi and 有 you
Unit Twelve
- Comparisons
Unit Thirteen
- Verbs and location expressions
Unit Fourteen
- Verbs and time expressions
Unit Fifteen
- Verbs and aspect markets
Unit Sixteen
- Modal Verbs
Unit Seventeen
- Negators 不 bu and 没(有) mei(you)
Unit Eighteen
- Types of question (1)
Unit Nineteen
- Types of question (2)
Unit Twenty
- Imperatives and explanations
Unit Twenty One
- Complements of direction and location (or destinations)
Unit Twenty Two
- Complements of result and manner
Unit Twenty Three
- Potential Complements
Unit Twenty Four
- Coverbial phrases
Unit Twenty Five
- Disylabbic prepositions