Abstract: The contrastive pattern in relation to shi and bu shi structure is one of the syntactic devices for expressing the contrastive focus. The contrastive pattern is different from other syntactic devices such as simply by using marked words and words order. The contrastive focus can be divided into the semantic focus and the pragmatic focus. Grammatical devices such as elision, implication, and sharing can protrude the contrastive focus.The contrastive focus is located at the positions of the ahead component, thebehind component, and the ahead-behind component. Of the three positions, the behind component is a commonly used one.

Key words: the contrastive pattern in relation to ‘shi’ and‘bu shi’ structure, the contrastive focus, the position of focus, the semantic