This is an introductory book on Chinese register grammar, which systematically introduces the origin of the studies of Chinese register grammar, its three-part system, its principles and mechanisms and their application in language practice and teaching. Meanwhile, the grammatical means by which register is realized are analyzed through a case study of “当” and “在”. Combining general principles with specific cases and theories with practice, this book expounds some new propositions such as “register is different from style” and “different registers are different grammatical systems”. 

Dr. Feng Shengli, 1995 Ph.D. in linguistics from University of Pennsylvania, worked as a teaching assistant and associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Kansas during 1994-2003 and as a professor of Chinese as an applied subject and dean of the Chinese division in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. In 2005, Mr. Feng was offered the position of a Chang Jiang Scholar of Beijing Language and Culture University. Since 2007, Feng has been a special-term professor and Ph.D. tutor at Beijing Language and Culture University, and is now a professor in the Chinese Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a subeditor of Language and Linguistics. His research interests include prosodic grammar, register grammar, Chinese exegetics, historical syntax, and prosodic stylistics. He has published several academic books, including Chinese Prosodic Syntax, A Collection of Papers on Chinese Prosodic Studies, and Expressions of Written Chinese, as well as more than 100 academic papers.