Vizzini squinted at the reams of paper spread out on the stump before him. This was a puzzle of sorts, he was fairly sure, for there were what appeared to be sentences (but were not quite sentences) on the left, and what appeared to be words (but were not quite words) on the right. A child could see the challenge: putting the not-quite words in the not-quite sentences. But how would he know if his answers were correct?As Vizzini inferred, the substance our HSK test today is once again correct grammatical word positioning. Our exercises start relatively easily, but do get more challenging the further you go. Fortunately, a good grasp of Chinese grammer should get you a perfect score here even if you don't understand all of the words in the question.
henning
said on November 24, 2008
13/15. Thanks for building up my self-esteem again after that Friday 高级 shocker.My errors: 2 (I chose C instead of B) and 10 (D instead of C). The latter was a result of not knowing what to do with the 两点一线, the former, well, I guess I still have to practice. BTW: As I don't have any "grasp of Chinese grammar", I just try to go with the force. Sometimes the force is with me and sometimes the other side wins.
anna
said on November 24, 2008
I wasn't sure about 两点一线 either. Also, is 车迷 just a traffic jam, or is there more to this phrase? Thanks!
imron
said on November 24, 2008
Vizzini not knowing if his answers were incorrect?! Inconceivable ;-)
henning
said on November 25, 2008
anna
车迷 = car aficionado
anna
said on November 25, 2008
Ah, I get 两点一线 now. This person is just going back and forth between two places.
orbital
said on November 25, 2008
Imron, I do not think that word means what you think it means.... How apropos considering my 13/15.
BMG
said on November 25, 2008
I also missed #2 and #10. I'm still not clear on the order of 了 and 到. I think I'm getting it now.I missed #11 because I'm still trying to force Chinese into English thought patterns. I don't have a good grasp of Chinese grammar, but at least it's a guessing game instead of a total mystery like it used to be.Still, I'm feeling pretty good about scoring 11/15 on an intermediate level.I can also add 两点一线 to my vocabulary. Now if I only had a need for it....
trevelyan
said on November 25, 2008
@BMG - my trick here is remembering 看到了 (since 看了到 feels wrong). The number is basically there to distract us into getting the answer wrong. It's a tricky question.
Echo
said on November 25, 2008
Hey guys,
About #2, david's method is helpful. "降到了", here means drop until. "了" shows past tense here, and you can also put "了" after 10 yuan, which shows the result of "降". "到" is the complement of "降", so you can't separate them.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
bonita.delmonte
said on November 25, 2008
10/15. A good quiz. I find myself learning a lot from the answers I'm getting wrong. So many are obvious in retrospect.
BMG
said on November 27, 2008
Could I say 降得到 or 降不到 then? This is starting to make sense.
Echo
said on November 27, 2008
@BMG,Yes, you can say that, and it is usually used in colloquial Chinese. By colloquial, i mean "short sentence" esp. Such as"--今天的汇率降得到5吗？--降不到". Although we 'd rather use "能降到/不能降到" more often.--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
Barnaby
said on January 5, 2009
"他每天过着不是在学校就是在家"
这(个?)句子的意思是不是 "whenever he's not at school, he's at home", i.e. "he doesn't go anywhere other than home and school"?
Echo
said on January 5, 2009
@barnaby.low,
"不是在学校就是在家" 就是那个意思 :) "不是...就是..." 就是给我们两种选择，并且只有这两种选择。
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
zzpzzp86
said on January 6, 2009
right,不是……就是……means either...or...
Echo
said on January 6, 2009
@zzpzzp86,
Exactly :)
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
