Where to find simple example sentences

[Ludens]

So, lately a lot of my studying time has been consumed by searching for example sentences. For this I use http://dict.youdao.com/ and http://jukuu.com/. The problem is that these sites often give rather long and complex sentences for relatively simple words.

Just a random example, for 数量 I might get results like: 由于基码数量比氨基酸多，许多氨基酸有超过一个基码来表述它们。

So my question is, is there a (better) way of finding simple, short example sentences?

[yialanliu]

I use www.nciku.com which has example sentences for words displayed and the sentences are relatively short for Chinese sentences.

Just wanted to point out that in Chinese, sentences are much longer than in English. The ideas of a runon doesn't exist to the same extent as in English.

This is why if you ever taught ESL to Chinese people, you'd fine a very high prevalence of run-ons and comma splices.

I think the best idea to think of this is that Chinese sentences are completion of a thought. You don't have to end until the thought is over.

[Kenny同志]

It is almost taken for granted that a widely acclaimed dictionary like 现代汉语词典 would provide sufficient, quality example sentences. Sadly, it doesn’t.

This situation may be changed soon.

[jasoninchina]

http://tatoeba.org

[Kenny同志]

The first sentence that jumped out at me from the website was 他的职业是医生. I am pretty sure few native speakers would say something like that.

People would simply say 他是（个）医生.

Even in writing, the second wording is preferred.

[Rawley]

You can also use Bing to search for example sentences. There's an option to filter the difficulty (难度）of the resulting sentences: difficult, easy or intermediate.

http://dict.bing.com.cn

[Mindmaxd]

Search the characters in BAIDU and then you can find some relevant sentences,choose some short ones is ok.

[yialanliu]

Kenny, you're right. However, in order for a sentence to show more meaning, it can't be that short.

For instance, if all the profession's sentences were

He is a doctor/fireman/politician...

Those are all poor sentences for dictionaries to use. Hence why super short sentences aren't always the best. At least the original told you it was a profession.

[Kenny同志]

Vacurous and redundant words do nothing but increasing the word count and more often than not, resulting in entangled expressions.

[Kenny同志]

Well, I admit, in certain cases, redundant words are needed to make the sentence sound better in Chinese. But this doesn't mean we must use vacurous and redundant words ruthlessly. Brevity and clarity are always virtues in writing. So don't use a word unless we have to.

[yialanliu]

I was only saying for a dictionary, a sentence is to help clarify the meaning. So simple sentences don't give a meaning of the word.

[WestTexas]

I was only saying for a dictionary, a sentence is to help clarify the meaning.

For me, the example sentences in dictionaries are more to give an idea of how the word typically fits with other words and phrases.

My 现代汉语词典 has example sentences. Most are very short though. I have a hardcover copy, 5th edition, published in 2011, which I bought here in China.

[roddy]

If you're happy with something that's just reasonably understandable it might help to restrict your searches to sites that are edited to some extent - Xinhua, Wiki's Chinese pages. It's not perfect, but it'll eliminate a lot of random forum and blog rubbish.

If you're looking for something that actually acts as an exemplar for the word, then I think you need to look at actual dictionaries. Not sure if Nciku have anything suitable licensed. The old Oxford C>E E>C little red dictionary (hallowed be thy name) was great for that. Pleco also have some Tuttle Learner's Dictionary which I haven't looked at, but might be suitable.

Writing really good example sentences for vocab isn't particularly easy and they'd need to be if not hand-written, then hand-picked. Even the above 他的职业是医生 is (regardless of how natural it is) not much use - if you're looking up 医生, what are the odds you know 职业? How much use is it to know that something is a job, but not what kind of job? You'd want something along the lines of 'I'm ill, I'll go and see the ~ tomorrow'.

If you just want random examples of usage, rather than sentences that effectively tell you what the word means - ie, you might end up with 'Doctors are continuing to monitor the situation' which is all very well, but they could be generals or civil engineers for all you know - then that doesn't matter . . .

[OneEye]

This may be an idea, though maybe not exactly what the OP is looking for. I have a book I bought here in Taipei called 史上最強的英語會話8000 (yeah, I know). It's intended for Taiwanese learners of English, but every single sentence (8000 total of course) has English, a 口語 Chinese translation, and clear, high quality recordings of each. It's organized by situation or topic, so you have things like illnesses, hot springs, clothing terms, food, museums, etc. There are altogether 171 chapters divided into 16 units (15 main units and an index). There's an unbelievable amount of stuff in here. For example, there are 50 sentences just in the hot springs chapter, and there's a ton of useful vocabulary related to hot springs (volcano, sulphur, scalding, soothing, nudity, changing room, resort, etc.) in the sentences. 279NT is under US$10, and if I remember correctly shipping to the US is reasonable.

Anyway, I use it to teach my English students, but I'm also using it to help with my Chinese. Good stuff. The only problem is you can't look up sentences by their vocabulary words.

[navaburo]

I recommend extensive reading.

Why?

Because when you first learn a word - especially if you learn it from a Chinese<>English dictionary look-up - you have only a weak mental "hook" for that word. But then, when you read, you are basically massaging your brain with high-context example sentences for every word in every sentence. This is especially true if the reading is (1) of personal interest and (2) not too difficult.

Of course, this doesn't help you if you want to look up a particular word. However, I have found, at least for myself, that it is better to relax and not worry about particular words so much, and just read (and listen) to get as much input satisfying criteria (1) and (2) as possible. Eventually, I will encounter a few illustrative, interesting, high-context examples of usage for "数量".

Now, if you are polishing a whitepaper or application or speech or something like that, then get a native speaker to help you with usage and style.

Just my perspective on the "example sentence" issue.

[BlackBird]

I find that chinese-tools.com is a good source of simple sentences

In order to see them, after searching you word on their dictionary, just click the red cross at the right of the definition. Usually there is at least 5 sentences.

So, for the word 几乎 (this one is lucky with 18, here are the first three):

1. 
   他说得跟真的一样，我几乎相信了他的话。
   (tā shuō dé gēn zhēn de yí yàng, wǒ jī hū xiāng xìn le tā de huà.)
   我差一点儿相信他的话。
   (wǒ chà yì diǎnr xiāng xìn tā de huà.)
   
2. 
   他几乎同意了我的意见，可最后还是没同意。
   (tā jī hū tóng yì le wǒ de yì jiàn, kě zuì hòu hái shì méi tóng yì.)
   
3. 
   听说妈妈病了，她难过得几乎哭了起来。
   (tīng shuō mā ma bìng le, tā nán guò dé jī hū kū le qǐ lái.)
   ....
   

As you can see there is no english translation, but the sentences are relatively simple. And usually at least one sentence (the first one here) is rephrased without the word you are looking for, so it can helps you if you didn't catched the meaning with the definition.

However, as I am at the beginner level, I don't know if low frequency words get some exemples or not (as for the word 数量 there is none ), but I thonk it still might worse the try

[hanyu_xuesheng]

Example sentences for 日

ChinesePod Glossary

http://chinesepod.co...entry/%E6%97%A5

nciku

http://www.nciku.com...mples/%E6%97%A5

dict.cn

http://dict.cn/%E6%97%A5

Jukuu

http://www.jukuu.com...php?q=%E6%97%A5

BingDict

http://dict.bing.com.cn/#%E6%97%A5

Tatoeba

http://tatoeba.org/e...query=%E6%97%A5

Ting

http://tinyurl.com/6pnsbb2

[tooironic]

You may also find my ChineseSentenceADay account on Twitter helpful.

[laurenth]

So my question is, is there a (better) way of finding simple, short example sentences?

I think nobody's mentioned Yellow Bridge. In my experience, their examples are often relatively short and easy. They are translated and there are tooltips for the pinyin (1st two sentences).

Examples for " 数量": http://www.yellowbri...9%87%8F&cache=1

• 数量不如质量。
  Quality over quantity.
  
• 但是，数量不对。
  However, the quantity was not correct.
  

[creamyhorror]

Examples for " 数量": http://www.yellowbri...9%87%8F&cache=1

Off-topic, but I noticed the example

消费者喜欢数量胜于质量。

This use of 胜于 as a adverb/auxiliary to the main verb 喜欢 strikes me as a little odd (but I don't read much so it could be fine). I'm okay with "X 胜于 Y" and "X 好过 Y", though.

fake edit: Then I go off and google it and find that "喜欢…胜过…" seems to be okay, so never mind.