“Series of Teaching Foreigners Chinese Grammar” is the achievement of “Research and Development of Grammar Syllabus for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and Teaching Reference Grammar Series (Multi-volume)”, a major project of National Social Science Fund of China presided over by Professor Qi Huyang, which has been selected as the “2022 Funding Project of National Publication Foundation”. As an important reference book for international Chinese language education, it aims to build and improve the “Grammar System of Chinese Teaching” for foreign students to meet the development needs of the new era. It mainly serves the front-line Chinese teachers, researchers, graduate students and undergraduates majoring in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages. This series consists of 39 volumes, including 4 outline series, 26 book series, 8 summary series, and 1 collection of essays.

This book is a fascicle of this series.

Passive sentence is one of the key points and difficulties in teaching Chinese grammar. Chinese passive sentences have distinctive features and various forms. While the ontology of passive sentences has gained fruitful research results, the research on teaching acquisition is relatively weak, and the process of transforming theoretical results into teaching practice is slow. From the perspectives of theory, acquisition and teaching, this book sorts out the common problems of passive sentences in the teaching of Chinese grammar, such as the definition of passive sentence, types of passive sentences, the connection and difference between passive sentences and related sentences, the analysis of errors in passive sentences, and the key points of teaching passive sentences, etc, aiming to provide teaching and acquisition references for novice Chinese language teachers as well as advanced Chinese language learners.

Tang Yili (Editor-in-Chief) is a PhD in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics from Shanghai Normal University and an associate professor at the School of Chinese Studies and Exchange, Shanghai International Studies University. Her research mainly focuses on modern Chinese grammar and international Chinese language education. Professor Tang has published more than 30 papers in professional journals such as Chinese Teaching in the World, two academic monographs, and one co-published textbook.

Li Zonghong (Author), is a PhD in Chinese Philology, East China Normal University, an associate professor and graduate supervisor of the College of Literature, Guangxi Minzu University. His research mainly focuses on modern Chinese grammar and Chinese second language acquisition. Professor Li has published more than 10 papers in Contemporary Rhetoric and Research on Chinese as a Second Language, edited a series of textbooks, and presided over a number of provincial and ministerial-level projects.

The concept of “passive” comes from Indo-European, in which passive sentences have strict formal criteria, whereas Chinese is paratactic and lacks formal markers, so it’s unworkable to judge whether a sentence is active or passive from its form. Sentences containing the character “被” are not necessarily passive sentences, and sentences without passive markers can also express passive meanings. This complexity makes “passive sentences” a difficult and important topic for Chinese learners.

This book establishes a multifaceted and integrated knowledge framework for teaching, learning, and researching passive sentences from the perspectives of theory, acquisition, and teaching, and transforms theory into practical solutions for teaching and acquisition, which can provide novice teachers and Chinese learners with practical suggestions.

This book is suitable for international Chinese language teachers engaged in international Chinese language teaching, whether they are specialized with a background in linguistics or international Chinese language education, or non-specialized with varied academic backgrounds.