Category Archives: Expression

What is a ‘sheep station’?

Posted on 16/06/2013 by khanbaliqist

I’ve always found it more than a little annoying that most of the world thinks the standard English-language word for a large property that runs sheep or cattle is a ‘ranch’. Of course, I know better. Such a property is … Continue reading →

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Use of numbers in Chinese slogans

Posted on 15/01/2013 by khanbaliqist

The use of numbers in Chinese slogans is well known and has been covered very wittily by Ted Anthony at his article on Chinese Use Numbers as Slogans. The best-known example is probably the Four Modernisations (四个现代化 / 四個現代化 sìge xiàndàihuà) … Continue reading →

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Shares for Shares

Posted on 09/02/2012 by khanbaliqist

Knowing the number and type of arguments that a verb can take is a key part of knowing a language. A familiar case from ordinary grammar is verbs that take both a direct and indirect object, e.g., ‘Adam gives an … Continue reading →

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