Product Description

A good grasp of grammar enables the foreign-language learner to build skill and confidence in communication. Here's the "ultimate," painless way for intermediate and advanced learners to brush up on the rules. Each grammatical concept is explained and then illustrated with lively sentence examples; extensive exercises offer practice at applying this knowledge in everyday conversation. Also included are "culture notes," authentic documents, vocabulary boxes, and verb charts, as well as a full answer key and index.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127702 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-01
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

Good but only for some
This book in it's layout and information is good. It contains alot of information and techniques for learning the French grammar, and it does this in a very easy way. The book also contains the odd cultural note about France, this helps to keep the idea that the person is learning something extremely useful, instead of something purely academical in the readers mind. The only problem I found with this book is that it goes through one rule, then expects the reader to have earned it by the next chapter without any father promting or coaching; though overall this is a very good buy.

Excellent and thorough
I'm using this book in conjunction with several others to brush up on French - I learned to O level many years ago. I'm enjoying this book very much. It is clearly written and has plenty of useful if sometimes a bit repetitive exercises. I'm sure as the concepts become more unfamiliar I will be grateful for the thoroughness. There is an excellent chapter on idioms and proverbs which I'm enjoying dipping into. The emphasis is on writing and grammar which is useful for me as I want to acquire reading and writing skills rather than speaking skills. But there's nothing to stop anyone saying all of the work aloud rather than writing it down as I am doing. There are answers provided and exercises requiring translation from English to French - as this is one of the skills I want - I'm enjoying those sections very much. It is very nicely set out and the explanations are clear and concise. It doesn't assume you have a teacher. Instructions are often in French which means you become immersed in the language. My only gripe is it's written in American not English. Other than that I recommend it very highly. It's doing the job for me and I'm finding it as fun as learning grammar can possibly be!

Very thorough, a worthwhile commitment
Not the title you want if your aims are to be quickly understood in a casual chat, this book is excellent for unpicking the dizzying complexities of French grammar. Moves quite quickly, so you can't shirk the excersizes if you want to get any value out of it, the only real problem is that a chapter feels like a major undertaking.

Presented in a readable style, without any of the patronising tone so common to language books.