Grammar and sentence structure explanation needed

[dsrguru]

Good. The FSI course said that many speakers put 的 before the object, but some put it after the object. As long as the former hasn't changed in China in the last 30 years, I'll go by FSI.

[TCcookie]

As to the matter of the 的 coming before or after the object, both are acceptable but have a slightly different implication. Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington, my Chinese grammar bible, gives an awesome example of a fairly complex sentence and how different positionings of the 的 change the sense of the sentence.

pg. 154

Similar to cleft sentences in English..., 是 is also used to express emphasis (with 的 being present or not present depending on the situation), and it is placed in front of the word or phrase where emphasis is being sought...

Then it gives this example sentence with all the places 是 and 的 can go:

我去年从美国坐飞机到英国去探望王先生。...

是我去年从美国坐飞机到英国去探望王先生的。

It was *I* who...

...

so it goes through emphasizing each element with the 的in that position, then

When the main predicate verb itself is to be emphasized, 是 is still place before it, but 的will have to be shifted to a position in front of the object of the verb:

我去年从美国坐飞机到英国是去探望的王先生。

It was to go and visit Mr. Wang that Iｆｌｅｗ　ｌａｓｔ　ｙｅａｒ　ｆｒｏｍ　Ａｍｅｒｉｃａ　ｔｏ　Ｂｒｉｔａｉｎ．

ｏｒ：

我去年从美国坐飞机到英国去是探望的王先生。

It was to visit Mr. Wang that I went last year by plane from America to Britain.

It goes on to give a few more examples and then inverts the sentence to show how even more different emphases can be shown. Myself, I frequently use the structure with the 的 at the end and am much less comfortable with the other types of emphases and don't seem to hear them as frequently.

Hope that was helpful, and for anyone who is serious about studying Chinese, you simply must buy this book!

[creamyhorror]

Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar (by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington) was one of the books I consulted on this matter. This usage is still strange to me, and I'd like to hear from Hongkong, Taiwan and other overseas users about how it sounds to them.