Appendix 1:A Rule of Thumb Approach to Basic Sente...
The word order in simple Chinese sentences is straightforward and simple，unlike in English where you need to change the word order when asking questions.In Chinese，the word order virtually always remains the same in any type of simple sentences.Let us start from making a simple statement sentence.The positioning of the key elements is shown below.Please note that“adverbial time”has two positions and in any given sentence you only need to use one.It is highly recommended that Chinese learners need to remember the positioning and sequencing of these elements as the statement sentence model forms the basis for generating any types of sentences including questions.
When you are composing a sentence in Chinese，please make sure you DO NOT follow the word order in English.If you get stuck when making a question，you can always come back to the statement sentence model.
Basic Chinese Syntax:Statements
Broadly speaking，we can divide questions into two categories：Yes/No questions and WH questions（why/what/where/when/which etc.and how）.When you want to make a WH question，please start from the statement model（or the answer sentence）.For example，when you want to ask，“What is your nationality？”，you should start from“I am Australian”，which in Chinese is“我是澳大利亚人”.Because you are asking which country，which in Chinese is“哪国”，a WH question expression，you would use“哪国”to replace“澳大利亚”to complete the question.The result is“你是哪国人？”.To summarize，when you are making a new WH question，you should write a complete answer statement first，then underline whichever part you are questioning，use the right WH question word to replace the underlined part and，here you are，you have made a new WH question.
Basic Chinese Syntax:using a WH Question word(what/when/where/why/how)to replace the part(s)being questioned
If you think making WH questions is easy，wait until you see how you can make Yes/No questions，as the processes is almost a no brainer.When you want to make a Yes/No question，again you start from a complete statement sentence and then you add a“ma”（Chinese question word）at the end of the sentence as shown below，now you have made a new Yes/No question.Is that simple？Of course，an alternative way to ask a Yes/No question without“ma”，is by using the“verb+not+verb”，e.g.“你好不好？”instead of“你好吗？”.Please stick to whichever way you feel comfortable with and remember：NEVER use both ways in one single question.
Basic Chinese Syntax:Yes/No Questions
There are no fixed ways in Chinese to say“Yes”.A typical Chinese way to express affirmativeness in answering a Yes/No question is to repeat the verb in the question.Then how do you answer questions like“你好吗？”？An affirmative answer should be“好，我很好。”，because in Chinese grammar，an adjective in this context is regarded as a verb.
Answers Affirmative
There are no fixed equivalent words to No either.Making a negative response is usually by using“不”or“没（有）”，generally depending on the following：a）what verbs are used in the question；and b）what the form of the verb in the question is.
When“有”works as a verb（to possess）in a sentence，the negative form No is“没”；and the use of“不”as a negator to the verb“有”is incorrect.A negative answer to a question such as“你有哥哥吗？”is then“没有，我没有哥哥。”.
For other verbs（except for“是”），both negative forms of“不”and“没（有）”may be used depending on the forms of the verb in the question，please see the examples below：
（1）Q：他今天来上课了吗？
Did he come to class today?(Asking if things happened in a past time.)
A：他今天没（有）来上课。
He did not come to class today.（He was expected to come today，but he did not.）（“有”here may be dropped.）
（2）Q：他来上课了吗？
Has he come to class?(Asking if things have happened.)
A：他还没（有）来上课。
He has not yet come to class(but he may still come).
（3）Q：他今天来上课吗？
Is he coming to class today?(Asking if things are happening in the near future.)
A：他今天不来上课。
He is not coming to class today(he does not plan to come).
When“了”（in questions）is used to ask if things happened in a past time or if things have already happened，“没（有）”is used as a negative response.If a question asks：“Are things going to happen in the near future？”；for a negative response，“不”is used，as shown in example（3）.
Please note，“了”is used to indicate a change having taken place in the situation or that a change of state occurred as the examples show：（1）“下雨了”，“it is raining”（but it did not rain just then）or（2）“她是大学生了”，“she is a university student now”（but she was not before）；or a negator“不”is used as in（3）“他今天不来上课了”，“he is not coming to class today”（he originally planned to come，but the situation changed）.
Answers Negative
