3 · 40 words
Linking words and frames
Although, not only, as long as, either or, first and then, and the paired frames that hold a sentence together.
Chinese likes to mark both halves of a linked sentence: 虽然…但是, 只要…就, 只有…才. Where English needs one word, “although” or “as long as”, Chinese often wants the pair — and when the second word is an adverb such as 就 or 才, it stands after the subject of its clause, not before it. Several frames here, like 越…越, have no English conjunction at all.
The words
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This list belongs to Thinking and arguing — eight lists and 320 words that can also be practised as a whole.
Practise this list
Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 40 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.