I believe that I began to read A Grammar of Contemporary English by Quirk (GCE) during the second half year of 1973 and when I started to teach at the Zhengji Middle School, I’d finished reading-through it. On Page 337, i.e. at the end of Chapter Six is a note written by me, which says:
1. March 1980 (Mapo)
2. Sept. 18, 1983（Zhengji）
3. In order to write a thesis I began to read it again and finished this chapter on Sept. 28, 1986. The thesis appeared on Issue 10, 1987 of “Foreign Language Teaching for Middle and Primary Schools”(FLTS) edited by Beijing Normal University (BNU). Its topic is: Dimension Type and the Choice of at, on, in”.
4. BNU and East China Normal University (ECNU) at Shanghai adopting my articles I had written, combining what I read in Quirk and the teaching materials of middle schools, has sprouted my mind to read it again diligently. April 10, 1988
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Journals from Beijing Normal University (BNU) and East China Normal University (ECNU)
These primitive four sentences indicated that the first time reading of Chapter Six took place in Mapo; the second time reading through it was finished on Sept. 18, 1983; in need of writing a thesis I finished reading it for a third time in Sept. 1986 and the stimulus by the theses published by BNU and ECNU encouraged me to read it for a fourth time, which happened in April of 1988.
The following is the finished date of related chapters for the fourth time reading:
Chapter 7: August 8, 1988
Chapter 8: Nov. 5, 1988
Chapter 9: Jan. 20, 1989
Chapter 10: July 28, 1989
Chapter 11: in the morning of August 15, 1989
It showed that the reading speed of the fourth time was much faster than before. It took me one year and four months, from April 1988 to August 1988, while I spent six and half years reading through it for the first time. The whole time I spend reading the first large book by Quirk lasted 16 years, from the second half of 1973 to Oct. of 1989.
From 1983 to 1989, I read some smaller books in English version, whose subjects were around grammar and usage, such as: (publishing house and the book title)
Oxford, Practical English Usage by Michael Swan;
Longman, Practical English Usage for Overseas Students by P.S. Tregidgo;
Oxford, A Practical English Grammar by A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet;
Commercial Press of China, The English Verb by Huang Ziwen；
The Customs and Language of Social Interaction in English by Helen Oatey；
Practical English Usage for Overseas Students by P.S. Tregidgo
English Colloquial Idioms by Frederick T. Wood
Among those mentioned above Practical English Usage by Michael Swan (639 pages) was one of my favorite, attracting me so much that I read it over and over again. As GCE, it looks like a historic relic, wearing away seriously. To my delight, they took me much less time. I had such a feeling: Once ascending the crest of Mount Tai, many mountains look small.
After the National College Entrance Examination in July of 1989 I went to Nanjing, taking part in scoring the paper. In the hotel I got to know Mr. Yuanxing Yang from the Mudu Middle School of Suzhou. When he learned that I am Defu Song, he talked with me warmly because he had paid attention to my articles published in some magazines. In addition, he knew that I quoted Quirk’s words in those theses and asked me whether I knew the second big book of Quirk. At that time there was no information expressway. Furthermore, I was in the countryside, knowing nothing about what happened in the outside world. I was excited when I heard the news that Quirk’s second book was much larger than his first one and asked Mr. Yang to help me buy it as soon as possible. Mr. Yang promised to go to the bookstore and buy one copy for me. I thanked him again and again in the bedroom we shared with each other.
Quirk’s second gigantic book
On July 22nd, 1989, the book “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language” (CGEL) came to me by post from Mr. Yang. GCE’s surface: 20.5cm × 14cm, thickness: 4.5cm, Page:1120 while CGEL’s surface 23cm × 15cm, sickness:8cm, altogether 19 chapters, 3 appendixes plus bibliography and index, forming 1779 pages. Counting carefully: the former’s volume is 1291.5cm3 and the latter 2760 cm3, estimating that the content of CGEL is more than twice that of GCE. When I began to read GCE in 1973, there were a lot of stumbles and I was unable to move even a single step, having slim hopes of success. Only relying on ancestor’s word (Mr. Ya’nan Wang) I acted with some hesitance. Now the time is changing a lot, and I have tasted the sweet of reading the book: up to the end of 1989, the number of my articles and exercises released in papers and magazines amounted to more than 50. What comforted me most is that the High Rank Judgment Committee of Jiangsu Province confirmed the qualification of my high-rank teacher on June 30, 1988 (In Xuzhou including 6 counties, only 4 English teachers got the qualification). Judging the ability to read the works in English version, 16 years ago I was an infant who learned to step unsteadily. Now I am a young man able to run. Facing such a large block of book, I am not afraid at all. Please see the progress of my reading it from the time July 22nd, 1989 I got it to August of 1990 when I left Zhengji for Pengcheng Vocation University (Pengda) :
Chapter 2 is finished on Dec. 13, 1989, altogether 21 days. I have read 91 pages, with each day above 4 pages.
Chapter 4(Page 175-239) is finished on the morning of 22, Jan. 1990. Just two weeks
Chapter 6 (Page 335-398) is finished on April 1, 1990
Meilan Zhang began to work in Xuzhou Economy Management Cadre College (XEMCC) in Sept. 1989 and our two sons, Li Song and Liangliang Song were in Senior and Junior Grade 3 respectively, both of them facing the entrance examination. Three of us were still in the Zhengji Middle School and I had to prepare meals besides having classes. I read Quirk only by stealing a moment every day. The advantage lay in that XEMCC is an adult college which did not require teachers to sit in the office the whole day. If you had no class, you can stay at home. Meilan Zhang could come back once during the weekdays, easing my burden a lot. It was badly unlucky that we met great trouble from Sept. 1989 to Sept. 1990, which would be described in detail later. My reading Quirk’s CGEL had to be stopped.
Jan. 15, 2010 in Xuzhou
Proofreading on Feb. 14, 2012 in Chicago
Uploading on Aug. 5, 2023 in Xuzhou
