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Trinitarian Grammar : Structure, Function and Context — A Handbook of grammatical points for Chinese Elementary and Intermediate learners, co-written by Professor Feng Shengli and Professor Shi Chunhong was published by Peking University Press in September, 2015.

Trinitarian Grammar : Structure, Function and Context — A Handbook of grammatical points for Chinese Elementary and Intermediate learners is the first textbook and reference book which combines sentence structures, functions and context together. Listed by meaning or function, the book chooses 264 elementary and intermediate grammar points as analyzing targets, which makes sentence structures, functions and the context corresponding to each other. Trinitarian Grammar provides a new way of thinking to the study of Chinese pedagogic grammar and Chinese grammar teaching.

Trinitarian Grammar is a new model of second language grammar teaching, which includes sentence structures, functions of the structures and the typical context of the functions as its basic framework. These three elements are closely related to each other, meanwhile, they are independent components of the language, making the pedagogic grammar a cohesive whole. Trinitarian Grammar is a kind of pedagogical grammar, but not “pedagogy”. It illustrates questions like “what is the structure of a sentence”, “what is the function of the sentence” and “when to use the sentence”. These questions can be answered by applying different pedagogy.

Teachers are the first target group who can benefit from Trinitarian Grammar. Fresh teachers can directly use the drills provided during lesson to reach a more professional teaching effect; experienced teachers can also be inspired by Trinitarian Grammar to further improve their teaching quality. Trinitarian Grammar also benefits the learners, letting them learn the language through typical context. They know when and how to use the structures, and find them easy to memorize.

Trinitarian Grammar absorbs the latest research result of functional linguistics, formal linguistics and stylistic-register grammar. On the other hand, the descriptions and explanations of concrete phenomena in the book can further enrich the achievement of linguistic theories.