Product Description

Solve the mysteries of Spanish subjunctives

Practice Makes Perfect: The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close puts the spotlight on this tricky grammar trouble spot. It boasts plenty of opportunities for practicing your language skills, as well as extensive examples based on a conversational style that will keep you engaged. The book also features a unique answer key that gives you more than just a listing of correct answers; it clues you in on the "why" behind them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16942 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-01
• Original language: Spanish, English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author

Eric Vogt, Ph.D., teaches Spanish at Seattle Pacific University.

Customer Reviews

Incredible Book on the Subjunctive
I've always thought that the Spanish subjunctive was so complicated that it could be covered in a book by itself. I've always hoped for such a book, too. Following is its table of contents:

1. When to use the subjunctive and how to form its four tenses
2. Sequence of tenses and the subjunctive
3. Subordinated noun clauses
4. Subordinated adjective clauses
5. Adverbial expressions
6. Contrary-to-fact statements
7. Comprehensive exercises

The author states early in the book that many Spanish students assume that the subjunctive is all about doubt. The author is quick to explain that this assumption is problematic. The use of the subjunctive in doubt or uncertainty is only ONE of its many uses. I'm glad there's a book on the subjunctive that addresses this issue. I used to tutor a student in Spanish who thought the subjunctive was all about doubt. And trying to get her to understand that there was more to the subjunctive than just doubt was a difficult task.

The book explains how to conjugate all four tenses in the subjunctive, then it moves on to its uses. This book explains the uses of the subjunctive in the same order as many other books. First, it explains its uses in nominal clauses, then it moves on to adjective clauses, adverbial clauses, and contrary-to-fact statements. The end of the book has exercises.

I think this book is incredible, but I personally don't think it's a good idea to explain all four tenses at once. I think it's better to start out with the present subjunctive, learn how to use it, and then move on to the other tenses. The author mentions the future subjunctive and the future perfect subjunctive, but he doesn't explain how to use them. I wish he had; it's difficult to find reference materials that explain the future subjunctive.

I highly recommend this book. 5 stars!!!

Brandon Simpson

very hard going
I have some of the other 'practice makes perfect' books (grammar, verb tenses, and pronouns & prepositions), and I like them - unfortunately I don't like this one.

I think I have a reasonable idea already of when to use the subjunctive, and I certainly know how to conjugate it, but I do belive that the more you read & practice the more things sink in - hence the purchase.

I had hoped that there would be nice reader friendly explanations similar to those in my other books in the series, but there aren't.
The other books are easy to use to look up something you've forgotten or want to refresh your memory on - there are bold subheadings which I find useful to quickly find the bit I want. Not in this book.
The only headings are the chapter headings, and after that you get lengthy paragraphs of very dry complex explanation. (You will need to be completely comfortable with reading about 'subordinated noun clauses', 'subordinated adjective clauses', and 'adverbial' clauses.)

There is an omission in the (surprisingly brief) explanation of how to conjugate the present tense of the subjunctive - it does not explain verbs like 'dormir' (duerma, duermas, duerma, durmamos, durmáis, duerman). It says "For verbs that have a single vowel to dipthong (double vowel) change in the present indicative, this change continues to follow the shoe or boot pattern". This would give us 'dormamos' & 'dormáis', which is wrong, it's 'durmamos' & 'durmáis'.

I also didn't feel that it explained why the subjunctive is needed after 'el hecho de que'. It said that this is often used in situations where "the speaker implies doubt and that it is essentially an ironic statement". Well, I can understand that, but then it said that it is also needed when the speaker wishes to assert certainty. Why? "..the certainty of the speaker does not mitigate the need to use the subjunctive" WHY???

Compared to my other reading on the subjunctive (mostly on the internet) this is more difficult to read and understand, and the practice exercises are not as good as the other books I have in this series.

The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close
Practice Makes Perfect: The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close (Practice Makes Perfect Series)
This is the most complicated and, for me, unhelpful Spanish book I have ever bought. Unless you know quite a bit about English grammar it is written in complete gobbledegook andis totally unreadable.