Notes · Chinese (Mandarin)UK · A-Levels

Grammar and translation: Appendix 3, both directions, both scripts

This topic is the engine room of the qualification. It covers the prescribed grammar list in Appendix 3 of the Pearson Edexcel 9CN0 specification - which is not background reading but a published statement of the structures candidates are expected to use actively and accurately - and it covers the two translation tasks, which sit in two different papers and are marked by two entirely different schemes. Paper 1 Section C is a translation INTO ENGLISH for 20 marks with a recommended 20 minutes; Paper 2 Section A is a translation INTO CHINESE for 20 marks with a recommended 30 minutes, marked by a points-based scheme in which one mark is awarded for each correct individual section of language. The topic also states the subject's script policy in full: simplified characters are the primary teaching script throughout these notes, traditional forms appear alongside for specification-quoted titles, the Appendix 2 works and the recognition set taught here - and Pearson prints every paper twice, once in each script, so a candidate taught traditional loses nothing.

5 sections~38 min reading time2 competenciesLevel Standard 2 · Advanced 3

T·0777 / 13

Exam profile

AO2 · Understand and respond in writing to written Chinese, including by translating it accurately into EnglishAO3 · Manipulate Chinese accurately in written form, using the full range of lexis and structure in Appendix 3

Operators:翻译分析改写解释比较检查

basic level

At first-year standard the target is control of the skeleton: subject-verb-object with time and place before the verb, the right measure word, correct use of 的 for attributives, the aspect markers 了 and 过 used with understanding rather than as a past tense, and the connective pairs 因为…所以…, 虽然…但是…, 不但…而且…. A translation into English at this level should be accurate and complete before it is elegant.

higher level

The full A-Level expects the whole Appendix 3 list to be live: 把 and 被, the complement family with 得 and with resultatives, the potential complement, the comparative family in all its forms, 连…都…, 是…的, 不论…都…, the formal connectives 由于, 从而, 尽管, 以便, 以免, 随着, and the formal pronouns 该, 此, 本. In translation the expectation is that the candidate translates structures rather than words, and checks in the target language rather than against the source.

Depth

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Contents · 5 sections

Grammar and translation: Appendix 3, both directions, both scripts

Word order and topic-comment: the skeleton everything hangs on#

StandardPearson Edexcel 9CN0 Appendix 3 - grammar listPearson Edexcel 9CN0 Paper 2 accuracy of language (AO3)DfE GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languages

The specification itself names the failure this section exists to prevent. Among the errors it lists as HINDERING clarity is the importing of English word order, and its own worked example is 我学习在图书馆 for 我在图书馆学习. That is not a small slip: it is a systematic transfer error that will recur in every sentence a candidate writes until it is fixed. The rule is simple to state and needs drilling rather than understanding. Chinese is subject-verb-object like English, but everything that situates the action - time, place, manner, instrument, beneficiary, comparison - stands BEFORE the verb, not after it. 我明天在图书馆跟朋友用中文讨论这个问题: I tomorrow at the library with a friend in Chinese discuss this question. It is worth saying why this transfer error is so persistent. English places circumstance after the verb because its word order is fixed by grammatical role; Chinese places it before because its order is fixed by information structure - setting first, event second. Understanding that does not by itself fix the habit, but it explains why the correction feels unnatural at first and why it stops feeling unnatural after a few hundred sentences.

Within that pre-verbal zone the order is itself fixed, and knowing it converts a rule into fluency. Time comes first, then place, then the coverb phrases of accompaniment, instrument or beneficiary, then manner, then the verb. 他昨天在学校给我们讲了一个故事 - he yesterday at school to us told a story. The exceptions are worth memorising because they are the places where something DOES follow the verb: duration and frequency (学了三年中文, 去过两次), destination and result as complements (放在桌上, 听到了), and degree with 得 (说得很好). Everything else goes in front. A useful way to internalise the exception list is to notice what the post-verbal slot is for: it holds information about the verb's own extent or outcome - how long, how many times, where it ended up, how well it went. Everything that situates the event goes in front; everything that measures or completes it goes behind. Two questions, and the whole word order follows.

The second structural fact is that Chinese is a topic-prominent language, which English is not. A sentence very often opens with what it is about rather than with its grammatical subject, and the rest of the sentence comments on it. 这本书我看过了 - as for this book, I have read it. 中国的高铁, 我觉得比英国的方便得多 - Chinese high-speed rail, I find it far more convenient than Britain's. This is not an inversion or an emphasis device to be used sparingly; it is ordinary Chinese, and a candidate who never uses it writes correct sentences that sound translated. Deploy it deliberately in essays, because it also solves the problem of long English subjects. There is a second, subtler use worth knowing. Topic-comment order also lets you handle an English sentence whose subject is a long clause, which is otherwise awkward: instead of trying to build a huge pre-verbal noun phrase, put the material up as a topic and comment on it. 很多年轻人毕业以后去大城市工作, 这一点和以前很不一样 - that many graduates go to work in big cities is very different from before.

Third, the three particles that English speakers conflate and Chinese keeps rigidly apart, all three named in Appendix 3's structural markers. 的 links an attributive to a noun: 他昨天买的水果 - the fruit he bought yesterday. 地 links a manner adverbial to a verb: 慢慢地说 - speak slowly. 得 links a complement of degree or result to a verb: 说得很好 - speaks well. All three are pronounced de and they are not interchangeable. A useful drill is to take any English sentence containing an adjective, an adverb and a comment on how well something was done, and force yourself to produce all three particles in the Chinese. One further point about 得 that catches candidates out. When a verb takes both an object and a degree complement, the verb is repeated: 他说中文说得很好, not 他说中文得很好. It looks redundant and it is obligatory, and it is the single most common error in an otherwise strong candidate's spoken and written Chinese.

Worked example

A word-order decision walked through as the exam demands it

You are translating: Last year I studied Chinese with a teacher from Beijing at my school for three hours a week, and I made noticeably faster progress than before. Build the Chinese by placing one element at a time.

Step 1 - find the skeleton and put nothing else in it
我学中文. Subject, verb, object, and nothing else. Every English sentence, however long, has one of these underneath it, and finding it first is the discipline that prevents the whole class of word-order errors. Do not be tempted to start translating from the left of the English sentence; start from its verb.
Step 2 - place time-when, which goes first
去年我学中文. 去年 is time-when and takes the front position, either before or after the subject - both 去年我 and 我去年 are correct, and the choice is a matter of emphasis. What is NOT correct is putting it at the end, as English does. Fix this before adding anything else.
Step 3 - place place, which follows time
去年我在学校学中文. 在学校 is a coverb phrase and stands after the time phrase and before the verb. This is the exact position the specification's own error example gets wrong. Note that 在 is a coverb here, not the verb - the verb is still 学.
Step 4 - place the accompaniment coverb, which follows place
去年我在学校跟一位北京来的老师学中文. 跟 is the coverb of accompaniment and follows 在学校. 一位 uses 位, the polite measure word for people, which is the right register for a teacher. 北京来的 is a pre-nominal attributive built on a verb: who came from Beijing. English post-modification must move in front.
Step 5 - place duration and frequency, which FOLLOW the verb
去年我在学校跟一位北京来的老师每周学三个小时中文. Here is the exception. 每周 (weekly) is frequency-as-time and precedes the verb, but 三个小时 is duration and follows it, before the object: 学三个小时中文. Writing 学中文三个小时 is possible in some registers but 学了三年中文 is the pattern Appendix 3 prints, and it is the safe one.
Step 6 - add the comparative result with a degree complement
进步得比以前明显快了. Now the second clause: 进步 (to progress) plus 得 introducing the degree - progressed in a manner that was noticeably faster than before. The comparison 比以前 sits inside the complement, after 得. 明显 is the adverb of strength. Sentence-final 了 marks the changed situation.
Where the marks are
Six positional decisions, and every one of them is a separately awardable section of language in Paper 2 Section A: time first, place second, coverb third, all pre-verbal; duration post-verbal; the measure word 位; the pre-nominal attributive 北京来的; and the 得 complement carrying the comparison. Build a long sentence this way - skeleton, then one slot at a time - and you will never produce 我学习在图书馆.

Result: 去年我在学校跟一位北京来的老师每周学三个小时中文, 进步得比以前明显快了.

Typical mistakes

我学习在图书馆 and its whole family. The specification names this as an error that hinders clarity, which puts it in the most costly category.
Putting a duration phrase before the verb: 我三年学了中文 for 我学了三年中文. Duration follows the verb, unlike time-when, which precedes it.
Writing 地 where 得 is needed, or 的 for both. All three are de, and the examiner sees the character, not the sound.
Avoiding topic-comment order because it feels like an inversion. It is the default in a great deal of ordinary Chinese.

Active revision

写十个中文句子, 每一句都必须包含时间, 地点和一个介词短语 (跟, 用, 给, 为了之一), 而且全部放在动词前面. 然后再写五个句子, 每一句用的, 地, 得中的一个, 五句里三个标记都要出现.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

量词和定语: measure words and the long attributive#

StandardPearson Edexcel 9CN0 Appendix 3 - nouns, quantifiers, structural marker 的, sequencing of attributivesDfE GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languages

A working core of measure words

Fig. 1Twelve measure words that will cover the great majority of what an A-Level candidate needs to count. The specification lists measure-word misuse among the errors that do NOT hinder clarity, so this table is insurance rather than emergency equipment - but Paper 2 Section A's points-based scheme awards a mark for each correct section of language, and a measure word is a section. The emphasised entry is 位, because using it for a person you are being polite about is the single cheapest way to sound like a competent speaker.

Measure words are the most visible marker of a candidate's level, and the good news is that the specification is explicit that misusing one is an error which does NOT hinder clarity - it will not wreck a Paper 2 essay. The bad news is that Paper 2 Section A's points-based scheme awards marks for each correct individual section of language, so a wrong measure word there simply costs a mark. Learn a working core of a dozen and use 个 when genuinely stuck: 个 general, 位 for people politely, 本 for books, 张 for flat things, 条 for long thin things, 只 for many animals, 部 for films and substantial works, 家 for businesses, 所 for schools, 件 for garments and matters, 辆 for vehicles, 杯 for cups of something. It is worth knowing why the specification treats measure-word errors so leniently. A wrong measure word almost never obscures meaning, because the noun is right there; whereas a wrong word order or a near-synonym misuse can genuinely mislead. The grid is calibrated to communication, not to correctness for its own sake - which is a useful principle to keep in mind when deciding what to worry about.

Beyond counting, Appendix 3 asks for the quantifier family in full. Frequency of events uses 次, 遍 and 回 - 次 is the general occurrence, 遍 counts complete run-throughs of something (看了三遍, read it through three times), 回 is colloquial. Plurality uses 一些, 几, 不少 and 许多, of which 不少 is markedly more idiomatic in written argument than 很多. Portions use 一部分, 大部分 and 大多. And the numeral patterns matter: 五分之三 for three fifths, 百分之五十 for fifty per cent, 一百多年 for over a hundred years, 大约 and 左右 for approximation, 倍 for multiples, and the juxtaposition 两三年 or 四五岁 for an approximate range. The formal register items are worth practising as a set because they cluster: an essay that uses 本 will usually also want 该 and 此, and a text that uses 一部分 will usually want 大多 rather than 很多. Register is a property of a whole passage, and mixing colloquial and formal items within one paragraph is more noticeable than either would be alone.

The attributive is where English speakers lose most marks, because English post-modifies and Chinese pre-modifies without exception. Everything that describes a noun goes in front of it, joined by 的, however long it gets: 那个昨天在书店里买了三本中文书的学生 - the student who bought three Chinese books in the bookshop yesterday. The practical technique in translation is to find the head noun first, then build leftwards. A relative clause, a participle, a prepositional phrase and an of-phrase in English all become the same thing in Chinese: material before 的. The technique has a practical corollary for translation into Chinese. Read the English noun phrase to its end, identify the head noun, write it down, and then work backwards through the English adding each modifier in front of it. Doing it in that order rather than left to right prevents the commonest structural error in Section A, which is a Chinese noun phrase built in English order.

When several attributives stack, the specification prints the order it wants, in the example 一条很漂亮的白色长裙 - a very beautiful white long skirt. The working sequence is: determiner and measure word, then descriptive or evaluative adjectives with 的, then colour, then material, then the head noun's inherent qualifying noun. English has an ordering instinct here too, but the two do not coincide, so it is worth writing out five or six stacked phrases and checking them. One more rule saves many marks: monosyllabic adjectives usually attach without 的 (红花, 大城市) while disyllabic ones usually take it (漂亮的花, 重要的问题). One further guideline resolves most remaining doubt: the longer the modifier, the more certainly it takes 的, and the more established the pairing, the more likely it does not. 红花 and 大城市 are fixed pairings; 很漂亮的花 and 非常重要的问题 are descriptions. When genuinely unsure, include the 的 - an extra one is barely noticeable, whereas a missing one in a long attributive makes the phrase hard to parse.

Worked example

Paper 2 Section A: an attributive-heavy passage into Chinese

Translate into Chinese. The three Chinese novels that my teacher recommended last term are all set in a small town in the north. One of them, a book about a family that moved to the city, has already been made into a film.

Find the head noun and build leftwards
The head is novels: 小说. Everything else in the English subject describes it. Chinese order will be: demonstrative and measure phrase, then the relative clause with 的, then any adjective, then the head. 我老师上学期推荐的那三本中文小说. Note that 那三本 sits OUTSIDE the 的 clause, which is the normal placement when the clause is restrictive.
Get the measure word and the numeral right
三本 uses 本 for books. Do not be tempted by 部, which counts films and long works as artefacts; a novel you can hold is 本. 那三本 is that-three-volume, and the demonstrative precedes the numeral. Writing 三那本 or 那本三 is wrong.
The predicate: are all set in a small town in the north
故事都发生在北方的一个小镇上. English are set becomes Chinese 故事发生在 - the story takes place in. 都 is the totality adverb, pre-verbal, covering all three novels. 北方的一个小镇 nests an attributive inside a measure phrase: of the north, one small town. 上 encloses the location, and 在…上 is the standard bracket.
One of them - the trap
其中一本. 其中 means among them and 一本 keeps the measure word. Do NOT write 一本的他们 or 他们中一个: 其中 is the fixed and correct form, and it belongs at the head of the clause. This is exactly the kind of item Section A's scheme awards a mark for.
a book about a family that moved to the city
一本讲一个搬到城市的家庭的书. Here two attributives nest, and the result contains two 的 in a row of clauses, which is normal. 讲 is to be about, to tell of. 搬到城市的 modifies 家庭; the whole 讲…家庭 clause modifies 书. Read it aloud: a book that tells of a family that moved to the city. If the nesting feels heavy, Chinese permits splitting into two sentences, and in an examination that is often the wiser choice.
has already been made into a film
已经被拍成电影了. 已经 precedes. 被 is the passive marker from Appendix 3. 拍成 is verb plus resultative 成 - filmed into, made into. Sentence-final 了 marks the new situation. An equally good version avoids the passive: 已经拍成电影了, since Chinese frequently leaves a patient subject unmarked - and the specification's own grammar list includes exactly that pattern under verbs used in a passive sense.
Where the points-based marks sit
Awardable sections here: 本 as the measure word, the demonstrative-numeral-measure order 那三本, the pre-nominal relative clause with 的, 都 pre-verbal, the 在…上 bracket, 其中一本 as a fixed form, the nested attributive, 被 or its idiomatic omission, and 拍成 as a resultative. Nine, in two sentences. Section A rewards structural control far more than vocabulary breadth.

Result: 我老师上学期推荐的那三本中文小说, 故事都发生在北方的一个小镇上. 其中一本讲一个搬到城市的家庭, 已经被拍成电影了.

Typical mistakes

Omitting the measure word entirely after a numeral or demonstrative. 三书 and 这书 are wrong in a way 三本书 and 这本书 are not.
Adding a measure word after 很多 or 不少. 很多个人 is wrong; 很多人 is right.
Building an attributive rightwards, as English does: 学生买了书的 instead of 买了书的学生.
Attaching 的 to a monosyllabic adjective in a fixed compound: 红的花 is possible but 红花 is what is normally meant.

Active revision

把十个英文名词短语翻译成中文, 每一个都要包含至少两个修饰成分 (例如 the three Chinese books that my teacher recommended last week). 检查三件事: 量词对不对, 所有修饰成分是不是都在名词前面, 双音节形容词有没有带的.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

体标记和补语: aspect and complements, the two systems English lacks#

AdvancedPearson Edexcel 9CN0 Appendix 3 - aspect markers 在 / 着 / 了 / 过; structural markers 得 and 到; complementsDfE GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languages

The four aspect markers

Fig. 2Chinese has no tense, so these four markers carry what an English verb ending would carry - and none of them is a past tense. The emphasised row is 了, because it is the one candidates over-use: it marks completion or a new situation, not pastness, and it appears freely in sentences about tomorrow.

Chinese has no tense, and the single most damaging habit an English speaker brings is to treat 了 as a past-tense ending. It is not. 了 marks completion of an action or a change of situation, and both uses can refer to the future: 明天我下了课就去 - tomorrow, once I have finished class, I will go. Meanwhile a past event with no completion focus takes no 了 at all: 我以前住在北京 - I used to live in Beijing. The specification's Appendix 3 lists 了 twice, once as the completion marker and once for imminent action or a new situation, which is exactly the distinction that trips learners up. The clearest way to test whether you have understood 了 is to try to use it in a future sentence and see whether it feels wrong. 明天吃了饭我们就走 - tomorrow, once we have eaten, we will go - is entirely correct and contains no past reference at all. A learner who cannot produce that sentence is still treating 了 as a tense, whatever they say about it.

The other three markers divide cleanly. 过 marks past experience - that something has been done at least once, at some point: 我去过中国 - I have been to China (and am not there now). 着 marks a continuing state resulting from an action: 门开着 - the door is open, standing open. 在 (or 正在) marks an action in progress: 他在看书 - he is reading. Learn each with one model sentence and never explain them to yourself in terms of English tenses; explain them in terms of completion, experience, state and progress, and they stop being confusing. One further contrast is worth drilling because it is genuinely difficult: 着 and 在 both look progressive to an English speaker but are not. 他在看书 describes an action unfolding; 他坐着看书 describes reading done in a seated state, where 着 attaches to the accompanying posture rather than to the main action. The pattern verb-着-verb is extremely common and has no English equivalent.

Complements are the second system, and they are where Chinese puts information English puts in adverbs and auxiliaries. The degree complement with 得 says how something is done: 说得很好, 流利得很. Resultative complements say what the action achieved: 听到 heard successfully, 看完 finished reading, 写好 written and written properly, 拍成 filmed into. The potential complement inserts 得 or 不 into a resultative to say whether the result is achievable: 看得懂 can understand by reading, 看不懂 cannot; 吃得了 can manage to eat it, 吃不了 cannot. That potential form has no clean English equivalent and is one of the most useful things in the whole grammar list. The resultative slot is also where a great deal of vocabulary hides. 完, 好, 到, 见, 懂, 会, 住, 掉, 成 all function as resultative complements and combine with many verbs, so learning nine complements multiplies your usable expression far faster than learning nine verbs: 听懂, 看见, 学会, 记住, 忘掉, 变成 are six words obtained from that list almost for free.

Two practical consequences for translation. From Chinese into English, a complement usually becomes an adverb, an auxiliary or a whole extra clause - 他跑得很快 becomes he runs very fast, but 我听不懂 becomes I cannot understand what is being said, which is longer than the Chinese. From English into Chinese, look for any English phrase of the shape verb-plus-manner, verb-plus-result or can-or-cannot-manage, and reach for a complement instead of an adverb. A candidate who translates I did not manage to finish the book as 我没看完那本书 rather than 我不成功地读完 has understood the system. A useful drill runs in both directions at once. Take ten English sentences containing manage to, cannot, well, finished or properly, translate them into Chinese using complements, then translate your Chinese back into English without looking at the original. Where your back-translation is longer than the source, you have found the place where Chinese was compressing something.

The complement family

Fig. 3Where English uses an adverb or an auxiliary, Chinese normally uses a complement after the verb. The potential forms 得 and 不 inserted into a resultative have no clean English equivalent at all, which is why the last two rows are worth more drilling than the first three. The emphasised row is the negative potential, because 看不懂 is the form candidates most often replace with an unidiomatic 不能.

Worked example

Paper 1 Section C: a passage that turns on aspect and complements

Translate into English. 这本书我看了两个星期, 还没看完. 里面有很多专业词汇, 有几段我读了三遍也看不懂. 我以前学过一点古文, 可是现在都忘了. 老师说, 只要坚持读下去, 慢慢就会读得比较快. 昨天我终于把最难的一章读完了, 心里很高兴.

这本书我看了两个星期, 还没看完
Topic-comment: this book, I have been reading for two weeks. 看了两个星期 puts the duration after the verb with 了 marking the elapsed portion - crucially this does NOT mean the reading is over. 还没看完 confirms it: 还没 is not yet and 看完 is the completive resultative, so still have not finished it. The pair 了 plus 还没…完 is the exact structure English renders with a perfect continuous.
里面有很多专业词汇, 有几段我读了三遍也看不懂
里面 is inside it, a locative topic. 有 is the existential. 专业词汇 is technical vocabulary. 三遍 uses 遍, which counts complete run-throughs, so read through three times, not merely three occasions. 也 here is concessive - even so. 看不懂 is the negative potential: cannot manage to understand by reading. English needs an extra clause: there are several passages I could not understand even after reading them through three times.
我以前学过一点古文, 可是现在都忘了
过 marks past experience: I have at some point studied a little classical Chinese. Note that there is no 了 on 学 - the point is the experience, not the completion. 都 here is not all but rather utterly, completely, intensifying 忘了. 忘了 with 了 marks the new situation: have now forgotten it.
只要坚持读下去, 慢慢就会读得比较快
只要…就… is the conditional pair from Appendix 3: as long as you keep at it. 读下去 is verb plus the directional complement 下去 used figuratively for continuing an action - keep on reading. 慢慢 is gradually. 会 is futurity. 读得比较快 is a degree complement with a comparative inside it. Three complements in one sentence, which is characteristic.
昨天我终于把最难的一章读完了, 心里很高兴
The 把 construction from Appendix 3: 把最难的一章 moves the object before the verb, and 读完了 supplies the required post-verbal material. 把 is used here precisely because the object is definite and something was DONE to it - finished off. 一章 uses 章 as the measure word for a chapter. 心里很高兴 is literally in the heart very pleased, and English wants was very pleased.
Where the marks are
This passage is a syllabus in itself: duration with 了 not meaning completion, the completive 看完, 遍 rather than 次, the negative potential 看不懂, the experiential 过 without 了, 都 as an intensifier, 只要…就…, the directional 下去 used figuratively, a degree complement containing a comparative, and a 把 sentence. Ten of the twenty marks in a Section C passage of this kind are effectively awarded for aspect and complements, which is why they deserve more practice than vocabulary.

Result: I have been reading this book for two weeks and still have not finished it. It contains a great deal of technical vocabulary, and there are several passages I could not understand even after reading them through three times. I studied a little classical Chinese in the past, but I have completely forgotten it all now. My teacher says that as long as I keep reading, I will gradually come to read it rather faster. Yesterday I finally got the hardest chapter finished, and I was very pleased.

Typical mistakes

Adding 了 to every past-time sentence. 我以前住在北京 takes none, and 我昨天很累 takes none either.
Using 过 for something still true. 我去过中国 implies you are not there now; for a current state use 我在中国住了三年.
Writing 我不能看懂 for I cannot understand. The potential complement 看不懂 is the natural form and 不能 sounds like a prohibition.
Confusing 着 with the English progressive. 他在看书 is he is reading; 门开着 is the door stands open - a state, not an action.

Active revision

写八个句子, 每一句用一个不同的标记或补语: 了 (完成), 了 (新情况), 过, 着, 在, 得 (程度), 结果补语, 可能补语. 然后把八句都翻译成英文, 注意哪几句在英文里必须变长.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

把, 被 and 比: the three constructions that reorder a sentence#

AdvancedPearson Edexcel 9CN0 Appendix 3 - the 把 construction; passive with 被 / 叫 / 让; comparative constructionsDfE GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languages

把, 被 and the unmarked patient subject

Fig. 4Four ways of putting the affected thing where the sentence is about it. The 把 row is the one with a hard structural condition attached - something must follow the verb - and the last row is the one most often missed in translation, because Chinese frequently expresses a passive meaning with no marker at all. The emphasised row is that unmarked pattern, which the specification prints in its own grammar list.

The 把 construction moves a definite object in front of the verb, and the reason it exists is disposal: something is done TO that object, and the sentence is about what happened to it. 我把书放在桌上 - I put the book on the table. Three conditions have to hold, and violating any of them produces the unnatural sentences that make a 把 look like showing off. The object must be definite and known. The verb must actually do something to it, so 我把中文喜欢 is impossible. And something must follow the verb - a complement, a location, 了, or a second object; 我把书放 is ungrammatical, which is why 我把书放在桌上 needs its 在桌上. It is worth noticing that 把 is not merely an option but is sometimes obligatory. When a verb is followed by a locative complement saying where the object ended up - 放在桌上, 挂在墙上, 送到医院 - the object cannot stay after the verb, so 把 is the only available structure. Learning the obligatory cases first makes the optional ones easier to judge.

The passive with 被 has a mirror-image logic: it makes the affected thing the topic. 书被他拿走了 - the book was taken away by him. 叫 and 让 are the colloquial equivalents, both listed in Appendix 3: 他让雨淋湿了 - he got soaked by the rain. Two things about the Chinese passive are unlike English. First, it is used far less often, and it carries a mild flavour of something unwelcome having happened, so a neutral English passive is often best rendered actively. Second, Chinese frequently leaves a patient subject with no marker at all - the specification prints 电视送来了, the television has been delivered - and recognising that pattern in a Section C translation is worth a mark that many candidates miss. The unwelcome flavour of 被 is worth demonstrating rather than asserting. 我被老师表扬了 - I was praised by the teacher - is grammatical and slightly odd, and most speakers would say 老师表扬了我. The same content in the active is neutral; in the 被 passive it acquires a faint suggestion of something happening to the speaker, which is exactly the flavour the construction carries.

The comparative family is printed almost in full in Appendix 3 and should be learnt as a set of six, because each one carries a different force. 她说中文比我流利 - plain comparison. 她说中文比我流利一点儿 - slightly. 她说中文比我流利得多 - much more. 她说中文比我更流利 - even more so, implying that you are fluent too. 她说中文和我一样流利 - equally. 她说中文没有我这么流利 - the negative comparison, which is the one English speakers never reach for and which is far more idiomatic than 不比. Drill all six on one sentence frame until they are automatic. It repays saying the six aloud on a single frame until the sequence is automatic, because under exam pressure candidates reach for whichever comparative they used most recently. A drilled sequence gives you the whole family in the order of increasing strength, and choosing deliberately from it is one of the clearest signals of range available in either paper.

Two errors are worth naming because they recur under exam pressure. First, 比 sentences cannot take a degree adverb before the adjective: 比我很流利 is wrong, and the intensity must go into a complement after the adjective - 流利得多 - or into 更. Second, 不比 does not mean less than; 她不比我流利 means she is not MORE fluent than I am, which leaves open that they are equal. If you mean she is less fluent, use 没有我这么流利. Getting this pair right is one of the clearest markers of an advanced candidate. A third error belongs with these two and is nearly as common: putting the standard of comparison after the adjective, as English does. 他高比我 is the English order and is wrong; the standard goes between 比 and the adjective, as in 他比我高. Because the error is a direct transfer it survives a great deal of practice, and it is worth adding to the four-point structural audit.

Worked example

A construction decision walked through: 把, 被, or neither

You have to render four English sentences into Chinese and each one poses the same question: does this need 把, does it need 被, or does it need neither? Work through the decision each time rather than reaching for a favourite.

I have read the book
我看了那本书. Neither. There is no disposal - reading does not change the book - and nothing is unwelcome. A 把 here (我把那本书看了) is possible but marked, suggesting getting it read as a task disposed of. The default is a plain sentence, and choosing the default deliberately is a sign of control rather than of timidity.
I have put the book on the shelf
我把书放在书架上了. 把 is required in practice, because 放 with a location complement wants its object in front: 我放书在书架上 is not idiomatic. The three conditions all hold - the book is definite, putting disposes of it, and 在书架上了 follows the verb. This is the archetypal 把 sentence and worth memorising as the model.
My bicycle was stolen
我的自行车被偷了. 被 is right here for the reason Chinese passives usually are right: something unwelcome happened to the thing that is now the topic. The agent may be omitted entirely, which is exactly what 被偷了 does. Compare 有人偷了我的自行车 - somebody stole my bicycle - which is equally correct and shifts the emphasis onto the thief.
The parcel has been delivered
包裹送来了. Neither marker. This is the pattern the specification itself prints as 电视送来了: a patient subject with an active verb and no passive marker at all. Writing 包裹被送来了 is not wrong but sounds heavier and slightly aggrieved. Recognising this pattern in the other direction, when translating INTO English, is where the marks are - a candidate who reads 电视送来了 as the television delivered has lost the sentence.
Now the comparative, all six on one frame
他的中文比我好. 他的中文比我好一点儿. 他的中文比我好得多. 他的中文比我更好. 他的中文和我一样好. 我的中文没有他这么好. Say them in that order, out loud, until the sequence is automatic. Note the last one flips the subject, because 没有…这么… is the natural way to say the lesser of two things and 不比 does not do that job.
Where the marks are
In Section A each of these choices is a separately awardable section of language, and in Section C misreading the unmarked patient subject can cost a whole clause. The decision procedure is short enough to run under exam pressure: is something being done TO a definite thing (把)? Is something unwelcome happening to the topic (被)? Otherwise, plain - and if the English is passive with no agent, consider the unmarked pattern first.

Result: 我看了那本书. 我把书放在书架上了. 我的自行车被偷了. 包裹送来了. 他的中文比我好一点儿, 不过我的中文没有他这么流利.

Typical mistakes

Ending a 把 sentence at the verb: 我把书看. Something must follow - 看完了, 看了一遍, 放在桌上.
Using 被 wherever English uses a passive. Chinese normally prefers the active, and the unmarked 电视送来了 pattern is very common.
Writing 比我很流利. The intensity goes after the adjective as 得多, or into 更.
Translating 不比 as less than. 她不比我流利 means she is not more fluent than me; use 没有我这么流利 for less.

Active revision

取一个句子 (例如他修好了那辆自行车), 用六种不同的方式改写: 把字句, 被字句, 让字句, 无标记的受事主语句, 以及两种比较句. 检查每一个把字句动词后面是不是都有成分.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

The two translations, the two mark schemes, and the two scripts#

AdvancedPearson Edexcel 9CN0 Paper 1 Section C - translation into English, 20 marks, recommended 20 minutesPearson Edexcel 9CN0 Paper 2 Section A - translation into Chinese, 20 marks, recommended 30 minutes, points-basedDfE GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languages

A recognition set: eight high-frequency pairs

Fig. 5Simplified is the primary script of these notes, but authentic material from Taiwan, Hong Kong and many overseas Chinese communities is printed in traditional characters, and Pearson prints every paper in both. These eight are among the most frequent characters whose two forms differ enough that a reader who knows only one may stall. The emphasised pair is 學 and 学, because it appears in 学校, 学生, 学习 and 大学 and is therefore the single highest-frequency difference a candidate will meet.

The two translations are worth 40 marks between them - a full fifth of the raw marks in the whole written assessment - and they are marked completely differently, which most candidates never learn. Paper 2 Section A, into Chinese, is points-based: one mark for each correct individual section of language. That means the paper is asking a series of small, separable questions and you can bank marks even in a sentence you cannot finish elegantly. Paper 1 Section C, into English, has 20 marks for one unseen passage drawn from one of the four themes; the marks reward accurate rendering of the passage's sections rather than a fluent paraphrase of its gist. Both, therefore, reward translating structure by structure rather than sentence by sentence. Two consequences follow that are worth acting on. Because Section A is points-based, an incomplete sentence can still score, so never leave a clause untranslated because you cannot make it elegant. And because Section C's marks sit in the sections of language rather than in overall fluency, a slightly stiff English rendering that preserves every clause will out-score a graceful one that silently drops a connective.

The checking routines differ, and this is the practical heart of the section. Into English: read your English aloud in your head with the Chinese covered. Does it make sense as English? Does every clause of the Chinese appear somewhere? Have you preserved the connectives - 却, 反而, 尽管, 与此同时 - which are where the argument lives? Into Chinese: check the SKELETON first, not the vocabulary. Is every time and place phrase before its verb? Does every numeral have a measure word? Is every attributive in front of its noun? Does every 把 sentence have something after the verb? Four mechanical checks, ninety seconds, and they recover more marks than any amount of re-reading for feel. The reason for checking in the target language rather than against the source is worth stating. Reading your English against the Chinese makes you see what you meant; reading it alone makes you see what you wrote. The same applies in the other direction, which is why the into-Chinese check is structural rather than semantic - you are looking for slots in the wrong order, not for meaning.

Time management follows from the mark schemes. Section C has a recommended 20 minutes for 20 marks, so a minute a mark: read the whole passage twice before writing anything, because the last sentence routinely disambiguates the first. Section A has a recommended 30 minutes for 20 marks, which is generous, and the extra time is there for exactly the structural checking described above. In both, translate everything: an omitted clause is a guaranteed zero for that section, whereas an imperfect attempt frequently earns something. One further piece of time discipline: do the translations at their allotted moment rather than saving them. In Paper 2 the translation comes first and is worth 20 of 120 marks, so a candidate who overruns it eats into a 50-mark essay. Thirty minutes means thirty minutes, and moving on with one clause imperfect is always cheaper than the alternative.

Finally the script policy, stated here in full because it is the last place a candidate might be uncertain. Every Pearson assessment for this qualification is printed twice, once in traditional or full characters and once in simplified, so a centre may teach either and a candidate answers in whichever they know. These notes teach simplified as their primary script, and give traditional alongside only for specification-quoted theme titles, for the Appendix 2 works and in the recognition set below; the point of the recognition set is that a candidate should be able to READ the other script even if they never write it, because authentic material from Taiwan, Hong Kong and many overseas communities is in traditional characters. Reassuringly, the Paper 2 accuracy guidance lists infrequent mixing of the two forms among the errors that do NOT hinder clarity - so consistency is a target, not a trap. One practical addition for candidates taught in traditional characters: everything in these notes transfers unchanged except the character forms themselves, since the grammar, the vocabulary and the word order are identical across the two scripts. The recognition table below runs in whichever direction you need it, and the useful drill is to read a page in the script you were not taught until the unfamiliar forms stop slowing you down.

Worked example

The four-point skeleton audit, run on a real answer

A candidate has produced this Chinese for the English sentence: Last summer my sister bought two long novels in a bookshop near our school, and she finished reading both of them in three weeks. Their answer: 我姐姐买了两个长小说在一个书店附近我们学校去年夏天, 她读完了两个在三个星期. Run the audit.

Audit point 1 - are time and place before the verb?
No. 去年夏天 has been left at the end and 在一个书店 after the verb, both in English positions. This is the specification's own named clarity error. Move them: 去年夏天我姐姐在一个书店买了…. Time first, then place, then verb. This one fix recovers more marks than any other single change.
Audit point 2 - does every numeral have the right measure word?
两个长小说 uses the general 个 where 本 is wanted for books, and 两个 in the second clause has no noun at all. Fix to 两本长篇小说 and 把两本都读完了. Note also that a long novel is idiomatically 长篇小说, a fixed compound, rather than 长小说 - a vocabulary point but one that a measure-word check surfaces.
Audit point 3 - is every attributive in front of its noun?
一个书店附近我们学校 builds rightwards, as English does. Chinese needs 我们学校附近的一个书店 - a bookshop in the vicinity of our school - with the whole locative expression before 的 and before the head noun 书店. Note 附近 follows what it is near: 学校附近, near the school.
Audit point 4 - does anything follow the verb where it must?
在三个星期 is a duration and belongs AFTER the verb without 在: 三个星期就读完了. And if the sentence uses 把 for the two books, 把两本都读完了 correctly has 读完了 after it. Running this check catches both the stranded duration and any bare-verb 把 sentence.
Rebuild and read it back
去年夏天, 我姐姐在我们学校附近的一个书店买了两本长篇小说, 三个星期就把两本都读完了. Read it aloud in your head. 就 marks the speed - only three weeks and she had finished - which is a bonus the original did not attempt, and it costs one character.
Where the points-based marks sit
The original would have scored on a few isolated items - 买了, 读完了, 姐姐 - and lost the rest. The rebuilt version earns sections for the fronted time phrase, the pre-nominal locative attributive, 附近 in its correct position, 本 as the measure word, 长篇小说 as a compound, the post-verbal duration, 就 for immediacy, and a well-formed 把 sentence. Same vocabulary, roughly the same length, several times the marks - which is the whole argument for auditing the skeleton rather than re-reading for feel.

Result: 去年夏天, 我姐姐在我们学校附近的一个书店买了两本长篇小说, 三个星期就把两本都读完了.

Typical mistakes

Paraphrasing the gist in Section C. The marks are for rendering the sections of language, not for summarising.
Spending the extra Section A time on vocabulary rather than on the structural audit. The audit is where the marks are.
Leaving a hard clause blank. A partially correct attempt can still earn its section marks.
Worrying about occasional script mixing. The specification lists it among errors that do not hinder clarity; word order is the thing to worry about.

Active revision

找一段大约 120 字的中文文章, 翻译成英文, 计时二十分钟. 然后盖住中文, 只读自己的英文, 检查是否通顺, 是否所有连接词 (却, 反而, 尽管, 与此同时) 都还在. 接着把自己的英文再翻回中文, 计时三十分钟, 最后只做四项骨架检查: 时间地点位置, 量词, 定语位置, 把字句后面有没有成分.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Grammar and translation: Appendix 3, both directions, both scripts

5 sections~38 min reading time2 competenciesLevel Standard 2 · Advanced 3

The two translations, the two mark schemes, and the two scripts#

Advanced

Pearson Edexcel 9CN0 Paper 1 Section C - translation into English, 20 marks, recommended 20 minutes

Pearson Edexcel 9CN0 Paper 2 Section A - translation into Chinese, 20 marks, recommended 30 minutes, points-based

DfE GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languages

Grammar and translation: Appendix 3, both directions, both scripts

Key points

A word-order decision walked through as the exam demands it

Key points

Paper 2 Section A: an attributive-heavy passage into Chinese

Key points

Paper 1 Section C: a passage that turns on aspect and complements

Key points

A construction decision walked through: 把, 被, or neither

Key points

The four-point skeleton audit, run on a real answer

Grammar and translation: Appendix 3, both directions, both scripts

Key points

A word-order decision walked through as the exam demands it

Key points

Paper 2 Section A: an attributive-heavy passage into Chinese

Key points

Paper 1 Section C: a passage that turns on aspect and complements

Key points

A construction decision walked through: 把, 被, or neither

Key points

The four-point skeleton audit, run on a real answer