【正文】 ome representatives such as Zhou Xiaobing, Luo Xinru (11014), Peng Zongping (14655) and Zhang Yizhou (6673). they all adopt classifiers as their searching objects and have made contributions to a better understanding of classifiers. This kind of exploitation sets a good example for us. of Chinese ClassifiersA mass of classifiers are those that count or classify nouns (nominal classifiers, as in all the examples given so far, as opposed toverbal classifiers). They are further subdivided intocountclassifiersandmassclassifiers, depicted below. In daily speech, people often use the term measure word, or its literal Chinese equivalent(量詞) li224。ngc237。, to contain all Chinese countclassifiers and massclassifiers (Li Wendan 1116), whereas the types of words grouped under this term are different. Specifically, the various types of classifiers show substantial differences in meaning, in the sorts of words they attach to, and in syntacticbehavior. LinguistMary Erbaughhas claimed that around two dozen core classifiers serve most classifier use (403). In normal, classifiers are divided into two main sets: nominal classifiers and verbal classifiers. Nominal classifiers draw a distinction between countclassifiers and massclassifiers.a) Truecountclassifiers[6]are used for naming or counting a singlecount noun (Zhang Hong 44) ,and have no direct translation in English。 for example,y236。 zhī bǐ (一支筆) ( oneCLpen) can only be translated in English as one pen or “a pen”. Furthermore, countclassifiers cannot be used withmass nouns: just like an English speaker cannot usually say *five waters, a Chinese speaker cannot say wǔg232。 shuǐ (*五個水) (fiveCLwater). As for such mass nouns, one must usemassclassifiers. b) Massclassifiers (truemeasure words) do not single out inherent properties of an individual noun like countclassifiers do。 but they connect nouns with countable units. Therefore, massclassifiers can be used with multiple types of nouns in normal。 for instance, while the massclassifierh233。 (盒)(box) can be used to count boxes of chocolates y236。h233。qǐao k232。 l236。 (一盒巧克力)oneboxof chocolates) or of books y236。h233。fěn bǐ (一盒粉筆) oneboxof chalks), each of these nouns must use a distinct countclassifier when being counted by itself y236。kua236。 qiǎo k232。 l236。 (一塊巧克力)one chocolate。 y236。 zhī fěn bǐ(一支粉筆) “one chalk”). Although countclassifiers have no direct English translation, massclassifiers often do: phrases with countclassifiers such asy237。zhī niǎo (一只鳥)(oneCLbird) can only be translated as one bird or a bird, yet those with massclassifiers such as y236。qn y225。ng (一群羊)( onecrowdsheep) can be translated as a crowd of sheep. All languages have massclassifiers including English, but countclassifiers are exclusive to certain classifier languages, and are not a section of English grammar besides a few exceptional cases like head of livestock (Allan 28586). verbal classifiers used particularly for counting the number of times when an action occurs, not counting a number of items。 this set includesc236。(次), bi224。n(遍), hu237。(回), and xi224。(下), which all roughly translate to times (He Jie 42—44 ).For example, wǒ q249。gu242。 sānc236。Běijīng (我去過三次北京),( I goPAST threeCLBeijing, I have been to Běijīng threetimes)（Zhang Hong 44）.The words can also form pound classifiers with certain nouns, as in (人次)r233。n c236。persontime, which can count (for example) visitors to a museum in a year (where visits by the same person on different occasions are counted separately)[7].Another type of verbal classifier denotes the tool or implement used to perform the action. An instance is found in the sentencetā cǎi le wǒ yī jiǎo(他踩了我一腳)he treaded on me, or more literally he stamp me one foot. The word jiǎo (腳), which usually acts as a simple noun meaning foot, here serves as a verbal classifier indicating the tool (namely the foot) which performs the kicking action. in the Usage of Chinese ClassifiersIt is not acceptable that every noun is only associated with one classifier. There is great variability across dialects and speakers in the way classifiers are used for the same words, and speakers often do not agree with the claim that a classifier is better than others (Tai, James 34—35).For instance, as for cars some people useb249。(部), others use t225。i(臺), and still others use li224。ng (輛)。Cantoneseusesji224。(架). The same noun may associates with different measure words depending on the manner in which the person is speaking, or on different tiny details the person wants to convey even within a single dialect or a single speaker. (For example, measure words can manifest the speaker39。s judgment of or opinion about the object (He Jie 237)). “An example of this is the word for person,r233。n (人), which uses the measure word g232。(個/個)normally, but uses the measurekǒu (口) when counting number of people in a household, and w232。i(位)when being particularly polite or honorific, andm237。ng (名)in formal, written contexts ”(Zhang Hong 5354). Some countclassifiers may be used along with nouns that they are not normally connected to, for metaphorical effect, as in(y237。duīf225。n nǎo (一堆煩惱), apileof worries/troubles) (Shie, JianShiung 76). Finally, a single word may possess multiple countclassifiers that convey different meanings altogether—in reality. And the choice of a classifier can even have an influence on the meaning of a noun. By way of illustration,“sānji233。k232。(三節(jié)課)means ‘three class periods’ (as in ‘I have three classes today’), whereas sānm233。nk232。(三門課)means ‘three courses’(as in ‘I signed up for three courses this semester’), even though the noun in eac