Topics · Primary Chinese · Sentence Expansion (句子扩写)
句子扩写: making a sentence fuller
A short sentence, and an instruction to expand it. The bones stay exactly as they are — you are adding description around them, not writing a different sentence.
- 51 exam papers analysed
- appears in 46% of P3 Chinese papers
- ~2 min read
01 Keep the skeleton, add around it
小鸟飞。 Who does what. Expanding it means adding to that, never replacing it.
小鸟在蓝蓝的天空中自由地飞。 Still 小鸟…飞. Everything else is new.
If the original words are gone, it is a different sentence and the answer is wrong however good it reads.
02 Three places to add
Every expansion goes in one of three slots, and a full answer usually uses all three.
| Slot | What it adds | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Before the subject | what it is like — 的 | 可爱的小鸟 |
| Before the verb | how, when, where — 地 or 在…中 | 自由地飞, 在天空中飞 |
| After the verb | how well, how much — 得 | 飞得很高 |
03 What to add
An adjective for the subject. 可爱的, 美丽的, 小小的.
A place or a time. 在公园里, 在早上, 在蓝蓝的天空中.
A manner. 高兴地, 慢慢地, 自由地.
A degree after the verb. 得很快, 得非常开心.
Two or three additions is right. Piling on five makes the sentence heavy, and each one is another chance for a mistake.
04 Checking
Read it back and find the original words. All of them should still be there, in the same order.
的 / 地 / 得 in the right places. This is the mark most often lost on this question: 的 before a noun, 地 before a verb, 得 after one.
The meaning is unchanged. Adding 不 or 想 changes what the sentence says, and that is not an expansion.
One sentence, one full stop. An expansion is still a single sentence.
05 How to say them
These are words most children have never said out loud, and a word you cannot say is a word you avoid using. The respelling is Hanyu Pinyin, with the tone marked over the vowel. Tap the speaker to hear it.
- 句子扩写sayjù zi kuò xiě
Sentence expansion — adding description to a bare sentence without changing what it says.
- 形容词sayxíng róng cí
An adjective, added before a noun with 的: 可爱的小鸟.
- 副词sayfù cí
An adverb, added before a verb with 地: 慢慢地走.
- 补语saybǔ yǔ
A complement, added after a verb with 得: 跑得很快.
06 What each level is tested on
The same topic, asked differently as it goes up. The percentage is the share of papers at that level in which it appears.
- P3
Expanding a bare sentence in the three slots, with 的, 地 and 得 used correctly.
Practise P3 Chinese Sentence Expansion (句子扩写) — 8 questions → Practise P3 Higher Chinese Sentence Expansion (句子扩写) — 8 questions →46% of P3 Chinese papers
71% of P3 Higher Chinese papers
07 Mistakes worth knowing about
Each of these is wrong. Decide why before you open it.
“小鸟飞 → 小鸟在树上唱歌。”
The verb changed. 飞 has to survive — expanding is adding, not rewriting.
“可爱地小鸟.”
的 before a noun: 可爱的小鸟. 地 goes before a verb.
“自由的飞.”
地 before a verb: 自由地飞.
“I added five descriptions to be safe.”
Two or three is right. A heavy sentence reads badly and each addition is another chance to be wrong.
“小鸟飞 → 小鸟不飞。”
That changes the meaning. An expansion adds to the sentence, it does not contradict it.
Now try it
8 questions across 1 levels, marked as you go with the working shown.