round. I have based the selection of topics on my previous research on the ‘interlanguage’ grammars of first-year undergraduates at my university (the Hong Kong Baptist University; cf. Hung 2000), which has earlier formed the basis for a remedial grammar course which I designed for them. This course was a precursor of the present book, and I have benefited from the experience of teaching it for four years, and from the valuable feedback from my colleagues in the Language Centre. I wish particularly to thank Mr Leo Yu, Dr Carol Lam and Dr Mok Sui Sang for their helpful input and suggestions (in particular, Dr Lam provided the proof- reading exercises in the Appendices), and Ms Zhang Yanyan for her tireless editorial assistance. All the ings of the book are, needless to say, entirely my own.