▎Measure 一M一M as Manner, one at a time

 

Function This pattern modifies the verb to indicate the manner of ‘one by one’, ‘one at a time’.

1 老師叫學生一個一個練習發音。

Lǎoshī jiào xuéshēng yí ge yí ge liànxí fāyīn.

The teacher had the students practice pronunciation one by one.

2 李太太把教室一間一間都打掃完了。

Li tàitai bǎ jiàoshì yì jiàn yì jiàn dōu dǎsǎowán le.

Mrs. Li cleaned up all of the classrooms one by one.

3 考試的時候，學生一遍一遍地檢查，怕不小心寫錯了字。

Kǎoshì de shíhou, xuéshēng yí biàn yí biàn de jiǎnchá, pà bù xiǎoxīn xiěcuòle zì.

After the exam, the students very thoroughly checked over their test papers, afraid they had written something wrong.

 

Structures The adverbial marker 地, as in 3 above, is optional in this pattern.

1 我把今天學的語法又一個一個地練習一遍。

Wǒ bǎ jīntiān xué de yǔfǎ yòu yí ge yí ge de liànxí yí biàn.

One by one I reviewed the grammar points I learned today.

2 他一個一個地給朋友打電話拜年。

Tā yí ge yí ge de gěi péngyǒu dǎ diànhuà bàinián.

He called his friends one by one to wish them a happy New Year.

3 麵包店的師父把蛋糕一層一層地做好了。

Miànbāo diàn de shīfù bǎ dàngāo yì céng yì céng de zuòhǎo le.

The baker at the bakery made the cake one layer at a time.

Negation：Either 不 or 沒 negation can be used.

1 學生的作業主任沒一本一本地檢查。

Xuéshēng de zuòyè zhǔrèn méi yì běn yì běn de jiǎnchá.

The director didn’t check the students’ work books one by one.

2 時間不夠了，這些店我們就不一家一家逛了。

Shíjiān bú gòu le, zhèxiē diàn wǒmen jiù bù yì jiā yì jiā guàng le.

There is not enough time, so we won’t visit these stores one by one.

3 來面談的人太多了，他們的資料老闆不一個一個看了。

Lái miàntán de rén tài duō le, tāmen de zīliào lǎobǎn bù yí ge yí ge kàn le.

Too many people came for job interviews. The boss won’t read their information one by one.

Questions：

1 買手機以前，你是不是都一支一支地試試看？

Mǎi shǒujī yǐqián, nǐ shìbúshì dōu yì zhī yì zhī de shìshìkàn?

Did you try out each cell phone one at a time before buying one?

2 那些照片，你是不是又一張一張上傳到網站了？

Nàxiē zhàopiàn, nǐ shìbúshì yòu yì zhāng yì zhāng shàngchuán dào wǎngzhàn le?

Did you upload the photos onto the webpage one by one again?

3 他是不是一家一家地逛這裡的百貨公司？

Tā shìbúshì yì jiā yì jiā de guàng zhèlǐ de bǎihuò gōngsī?

Did he go into each individual shop one by one at this department store?