LESSON I.
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1. One of the principal distinctions between the Chinese language with its various dialects and European languages, is the absence in the former of such changes as take place in English to indicate the difference between the singular and plural numbers of Nouns, or the various moods and tenses of Verbs. The Chinese language unlike western languages, has in fact no real grammatical construction, although a few rules may be formulated to help the student. All that inflections and conjugations help to make clear in western languages is indicated in Chinese either by auxiliary words or the general context in which the word is found. The student may compare the English noun "sheep", which the context alone can show to be singular or plural; and the verb "burst", to find the mood or tense of which we must look at the auxiliary word used with it.
