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Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar | 
| Author: Claudia Ross
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $12.89
You Save: $6.06 (32%)
Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 56667
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 8.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 0071377646
Dewey Decimal Number: 495.182421
UPC: 639785384861
EAN: 9780071377645
Publication Date: February 13, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar is designed to assist beginning and intermediate students of Mandarin Chinese develop and enhance their knowledge of Chinese grammar. Chinese morphology can be intimidating to students. By simplifying the learning process, this practical book enriches the student's understanding of the Chinese language. The accessible summary of the major features of Chinese grammar complete with clear explanations of terms and usage is especially helpful to students. The book features 200 sets of practice exercises as well as Chinese-English and English-Chinese glossaries. It serves as a much-needed supplement to textbooks and class materials currently being used in first-and second-year college-level courses.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Should be a required ancillary to your main learning medium April 17, 2005
81 out of 81 found this review helpful
It took four years for the best grammar accompaniment to appear. That's when I started learning Mandarin. Like many of you who are satisfied with Pimsleur, you still needed more. I sat through classes in a university, used various software packages, and read books all contributing in different (and needed ways). The grammar problem though is recurring. I still have problems with guo/le that even in a classroom are not totally resolved. The Yip/Rimmington et al. grammar books just didn't resonate with my learning style: too formal, too detailed, too structured, and only in simplified (not to mention how much vocab you needed to understand well the examples).
Ross' treatment in the Schaum book is great. Lots and lots of examples (pinyin, simplified/traditional, English) with slight variations in usage illustrated. As has been pointed out in other reviews, having at least a year of study already improves its value. Actually there were distinctions made between some words I didn't know needed distinctions, such as zai/shi. Excellent treatment of other situations like the various unlike-English section on positional words (inside, outside, above, below, etc.). Another aspect is the exhaustive nature of some groupings or lists, for example, all the variations on these positional words and the possible combinations. Another example would be numbers/money/percentages etc. Almost more than you want.
This has been very helpful to me as a reference grammar that is excellent. In some cases, it would be helpful to have more descriptive text: like most Schaum's, text is terse. Also, time expressions, duration, etc. would be nice to be in a single place. Most are there, but you need to look for them.
It's inexpensive and worth the investment.
An excellent resource! December 23, 2004
49 out of 50 found this review helpful
I had worked my way through all three of Pimsleur's Mandarin Comprehensive CD sets (each excellent its own right) and was looking for something to answer a few lingering questions. (Pimsleur is fantastic on giving you great pronunciation and practical speaking skills but often leaves you wanting to know a little more of the WHY behind the grammar.) This book was the perfect solution. It summarizes the core grammar accurately and succinctly and is very easy to work through once you've completed a course like Pimsleur. I also ordered a $50 reference grammar of Chinese from Routledge and found it almost useless in comparison. Just a really nice book that does exactly what it sets out to.
Even my tutor thinks it's great May 4, 2005
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
I am preparing for an oral exam in Chinese. I'm using the on-line version of Rosetta Stone, which is good for listening. I'm using both of the Schaum's books for additional material, a contemporary Chinese reader ("Shifting Tides" with CD) with a tutor.
According to my tutor, one of the most important differences between someone who can just manage in China, and someone who is conversant, is their grammar. She believes good grammar can cover lack of vocabulary in an oral exam.
Schaum's covers the topics very thoroughly, with useful exercises to cement the topic. Each chapter covers a different part of speech -- nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc. Each chapter starts with the basics and progresses into details. They have examples of good usage and bad usage (accompanied by yucky faces). On the downside, grammar is explained in linguistic terms, e.g. aspectual suffixes, which I am not very familiar with. The examples make clear the meanings.
This book is thorough. I've studied Chinese off and on for many years, and have used many different texts. So the grammar I have learned is spotty. This is a comprehensive study. My tutor (who teaches at the university) has mentioned that it covers topics rarely covered in other textbooks.
I like that the text is written in traditional, simplified characters as well as in pinyin, with an English translation. Studying for an oral exam, I have less interest in knowing characters, so I've been looking for pinyin texts.
This book is not for beginning Chinese students. There is far more vocabulary than a beginning Chinese student would know. I routinely add words from the book to my vocabulary flash cards --such as zhuang(4) guan(1) de Da(4) Xia(2) gu(3) -- magnificient Grand Canyon.
I consider this one of the best purchases I've made for studying.
One of the better Chinese language books on the market. March 11, 2006
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
There are some really bad ones out there, especially one called, Modern Chinese by Peking University. The only thing modern about that one is that they keep updating the picture on the cover. It was written during or shortly after the Cultural Revolution and contains nouns and phrases no one uses anymore. One of my complaints about other books is that many of them concentrate too heavily on the pinyin, the alphabetized Chinese, the implication being that characters are unimportant. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was in Beijing in 1999 and every sign, menu, train ticket, etc. was in characters. Moreover, because Chinese is a tonal language with a zillion homonyms pinyin really isn't very helpful except as a tool for pronunciation and filing. Perhaps it's because the characters came from pictures most people, once they develop some fluency, find them easier to read than the pinyin.
Ross' book is modern and the format is reader friendly; print is decent sized, not too busy, and the book can lie flat open. It covers many grammar points and has exercises. I like it that it also contains both the simplified and traditional characters. It has a couple of minor mistakes and needs a tiny bit of updating but, overall it's an excellent book.
Very good summary of Chinese grammer rules March 18, 2005
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
This book is ideal for anyone who has at least a college year's worth of Chinese. It summarizes basic Chinese grammar and covers various sentence constructs, word usages, and important grammer points. Sentences like "you are so busy that you have no time to talk to me" are summerized in their appropriate sections, and specific words that might trouble English speakers like "guo/le" are covered thoroughly. It also uses both traditional and simplified for every sentence so whatever method of writing you like you will be fine. The examples spaced throughout each chapter help reinforce the material.
It is NOT however a book you should be neccesarily reading by itself if you are completely new to Chinese. It definatly assumes you have some knowledge in Chinese, and gives you no baby introduction to Chinese. For the beginning Chinese leaner, it definatly is not a standaloen book, but as a supplement to a text book (such as Chinese Interactions) and an audio program (like Pimsleur) it shines. Highly recommended for any student of Mandarin.
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