Officially Recommended: Chinese Grammar Wiki

[roddy]

After discussions with Mr John "Sinosplice" Pasden, in which we agreed that both our sites are excellent, I'm pinning this topic in the top of the Grammar Forum and also giving the Chinese Grammar Wiki a couple of shout-outs elsewhere. The Chinese Grammar Wiki will meanwhile be pointing its users over here so they can get all their wide-ranging Chinese discussion needs met in a friendly and effective manner.

 

We're also hoping to see John, who has expertise galore to share, posting on here more often. Say hello if you see him about. 

 

Do we have any regular CGW editors on board? Any more feedback, praise or complaints, from existing users of the site?

[sinosplice]

Thanks, Roddy!

 

Perhaps a link would be in order: Chinese Grammar Wiki

 

Yes, feedback is very welcome. We do requests! We're trying to get the lower levels (A1-A2) more or less "done" first before moving our focus to B1-B2, and then finally C1-C2.  We're always collecting grammar points to tackle later, though.

[Ness]

Thanks. Grammar has always been the number one issue in learning for me from what little I know. Everyone has told me to worry about tones and even vocab first and the grammar will fall into place. So I'm trying to take that approach with it, but at the same time I don't even understand English grammar that well. I just grew up speaking English and know everything by circumstance. I wouldn't be able to explain English grammar that well though to someone that wanted to know about it. This wiki project really seems to get at that heart of the matter and I look forward to utilizing it as a resource. Good work.

[abhoriel]

Yeah I've been using this website for all of my grammar needs.. I find the format much more approachable than a text book, and I make anki flashcards from the content. It really is excellent.

[JustinJJ]

Does anyone know of any good resources or have any tips for systematically drilling/testing grammar patterns so that they become internalised? Perhaps there's an app or book that helps with this?

 

Whenever I write something formal e.g. a letter using very formal/polite language and have my girlfriend review it, she'll always find things to change that make sense to me, but I wouldn't have thought of them without the benefit of hindsight. Often these are grammatical changes or changes or revisions to make the 文章 more formal. I also notice that a lot of non-native English speakers may have a strong command of spoken English, but their writing looks clearly non-native/not professional.

 

As an end goal I'd like my Chinese writing to look more "native-like"/educated at some stage and have a strong-enough command of grammar to be able to e.g. comfortably answer the HSK Level 6 语病 questions. A lot of my focus so far has been on reading rather than writing, but I don't think input on its own is enough to write 'well'. 

 

Happy to hear people's ideas. Cheers 

[wulfgar]

Oh my, grammar points ordered by difficulty level? where have you been all my life! 

Yes, what a great idea! I'm considering working my way through this wiki methodically, at least the A1 through B1 stuff. I'd like to know peoples' opinions on how accurate the levels are. I don't expect a close correspondence to CEFR levels or a perfect cut-off line between sequential levels, but I mainly want to make sure that I'm studying the most common stuff first. In your opinion, will starting at A1 and proceeding accomplish this? Any more suggestions for working through it methodically?

[roddy]

The A1 and A2 levels are now available as a print book for anyone that wants it. Foreword by David "Chinese is hard!" Moser!

[Shelley]

That link is for Amazon USA, anyone know if it is available on UK Amazon? In my email notifying me of the arrival of this magnificent book, there was also only the USA link.

[roddy]

Two seconds later.... 

[Shelley]

Thanks, I searched for it and got no results,not sure why.

This is definitely going on my birthday list.

[Zeppa]

It's a great site and I read about the book version on Sinosplice. But can I also put a plug in for Chinese Grammar Notes:

http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Lang work/Grammar database/Grammar_database_content.htm

 

I've always found the explanations there excellent.

[agewisdom]

The Intermediate edition is out. Get it now!

 

I've ordered my print copy already.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chinese-Grammar-Wiki-BOOK-Intermediate/dp/1941875351/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544771478&sr=1-4&keywords=chinese+grammar+wiki

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1941875351/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Just got my print copy but anyone interested better hold off on their orders. Their cover (the spine portion) is missing the description INTERMEDIATE. Sigh! Pretty annoying. I sent an email to them on this already.

 

UPDATE: They sent me an email saying they've taken note. So, future customers shouldn't face this problem.

 

 

[sinosplice]

@agewisdom That issue was fixed immediately. Thanks for getting in touch about it. I hope everyone enjoys the book!

[ChTTay]

On 12/14/2018 at 2:12 AM, agewisdom said:

is missing the description INTERMEDIATE. Sigh! Pretty annoying.

If the content is correct it seems like a pretty insignificant issue. Doesn’t look as good/uniform on your bookshelf or what? 

[agewisdom]

59 minutes ago, ChTTay said:

If the content is correct it seems like a pretty insignificant issue. Doesn’t look as good/uniform on your bookshelf or what? 

It might be to you but not to me. If you were living nearby, would you mind if someone asked you to swap if you had the revised version? I have both books and it's pretty hard to distinguish between them when you have them on the bookshelf.

 

Mind you, I contacted them to let them know the issue only. Not for anything else.

 

 

[ChTTay]

Sure. Happy to swap! Mine has “intermediate” written on it with marker though. That cool? ??

[agewisdom]

5 hours ago, ChTTay said:

Sure. Happy to swap! Mine has “intermediate” written on it with marker though. That cool? ??

 

Nah... I prefer machine printed for consistency.

Anyways, like I said, it's a minor annoyance. However, I did contact them to rectify them in case they get someone really fussy about it...

[sinosplice]

I have 10 copies without the "INTERMEDIATE" label on the spine myself. I'm thinking of getting some green stickers printed up of exactly the right height and width.

 

@agewisdom Would you be interested in that?

[agewisdom]

7 hours ago, sinosplice said:

@agewisdom Would you be interested in that?

 

Yes I would but I live in Malaysia. You'd best ship with the cheapest economic mail so at least you can save some postage fees. I don't mind waiting...

 

Ah... so the first batch of books were printed already. Guess that makes more sense than printing one by one on demand, since the cost would be higher. Not everyone is as fussy as me...  but then again, some people might be MORE fussy than me, which is why I send your company the email. As I said, I just want to support your excellent work on Chinese Grammar and making it free online.

 

BTW ~ Any estimate when the Advanced version will be out? Is within the next 3 years a possibility?

[roddy]

7 minutes ago, agewisdom said:

BTW ~ Any estimate when the Advanced version will be out?

Just write 'Advanced' in that nice blank space you have...