At Edinburgh University in 1995 our coursebook was P.C. T'ung and D.E.
Pollard's 'Colloquial Chinese'. 很 is indeed featured in Chapter 1, but there is no
mention of 是 . The second grammar point of the opening chapter is
entitled 'Stative verbs' and explains:
"When adjectives form the predicate, i.e. when they say what the subject is
or is not, they function as verbs; there is no additional word for 'to be'. We
call them stative verbs. In the affirmative, when no more substantive adverb
is to be supplied, they need to be supported by the unstressed adverb
hen 'quite' very'."
是 makes its debut in Chapter 2. It is listed in the vocabulary as being
a 'Classificatory verb' (along with 叫 and 姓), and is explained so:
"The verb shi, 'to be' acts as a link between the subject and a description of
it - usually a way of identifying it: Ta shi Zhongguo ren, 'He is Chinese';..."
Chris Johnson 公孙海
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