Product Description

When it comes to learning English grammar, the best way is to JUST DO IT!

For learning grammar, you'll find the most successin retaining your skills through drills, drills, andmore drills. English Grammar Drills reinforcesyour knowledge and enhances your ability to read,write, and speak in English. Each chapter deals with onlyone subject, so you are not overwhelmed withinformation and drills and can proceed at a comfortablepace. With close to 200 exercises you will get plenty of opportunities to practice what you have learned.

Customer Reviews (1)

English Grammar Drills
My ESL students use this book as it gives them great practice in using English Grammar.
It is well set out and easy for them to follow.I time them doing the exercises
which makes it fun for them to do.I use the book in conjunction with the others
in the series.

Cathy B ... Read more

Product Description

The all-in-one resource to sharpen your German verb and grammar skills

In addition to providing essential concepts regarding verbs and grammar, this new edition of theGerman Verbs & Essentials of Grammar includes a brand-new feature: an index of the 300 mostpopular verbs, which can be cross-referenced with the numerous verb tables appearing throughoutthe book. This all-in-one language tutorial contains lotsof examples employing contemporary language to give you a taste of real-life situations.Each unit focuses on a single verbal or grammatical concept, providing concise yet comprehensiveexplanations.

Customer Reviews (3)

Concise and Readable Book of Grammar
This book presents the basics of understanding German verb conjugations and grammar in a very concise but also straightforward and easily understandable manner. The book is also a good source for vocabulary. There are not reading passages but then that is not the point of it. The book makes it easy to refer to it for specialized grammar needs. If you want to learn German, this is a great book to have.

something important is missing....
this is book is really "essentials" and this is not bad actually.
But I wonder if the author reviewed that book before its publishing, especially as a 2nd edition. That book, being a teaching book, should be aware of the orthographic reform of german in 1996. Though it s true that even many germans spell still in the old way, that is not incorrect, in some years they who remember the old spelling will be just a few. At least, that book could say that follows the old way, by using the special mark that these books have to, in order to showto the candidate purchaser that specific feature.It is so with the books of the kind in Europe.

Poor in conjugation
This item is not as good as it seems. The conjugation tables are not complete, you'll have to figure out many things. Better check "Teach Yourself German Verbs" ("Parken Verboten") that is a great book! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Difficult reading but gives a different perspective.
Cognitive grammar is presented in this book as a theory that is "fundamentally at odds with the dominant trends in current linguistic theory", especially the generative tradition of grammar. The author's main thesis is the inseparability of syntax and semantics, and he attempts to present an account of linguistic structure that is independent of the any particular domain. The formalism of accepted linguistic theory is to be rejected, in favor of what the author calls a "conceptual clarification" of the fundamental issues in linguistics. Figurative language, with its idioms, metaphors, and "semantic extensions" is to be given central status, the author argues.

For this reviewer, the book was difficult reading, this no doubt due to its departure from the standard formal constructions of linguistics. The author recognizes the difficulty he faces in presenting his theory, he cautions the reader that the theory is not complete, but he asserts that the basic elements of the theory are "stable" enough to allow presentation in a work such as this. These basic elements are summarized as saying that semantic structure is not universal, but specific to a certain language; grammar is symbolic in nature and consists of the symbolization of semantic structure; and that grammar and lexicon cannot be distinguished.

Readers with a background in cognitive science or neuroscience may be taken aback by the author's carefree talk of the functioning of the human brain and mental events, which is frequently done with no empirical evidence to substantiate it. The author though is aware of the lack of evidence, for he says early on that some of the book could be regarded as an exercise in what he calls "speculative psychology." He recognizes that his discussion of the cognitive workings of the human mind may not be accurate, but he believes that they are plausible and that the overall system he presents has enough coherence to be valid in many respects.

The "general assumptions" of cognitive grammar are that of "symbolization", namely that language is symbolic in nature and consists of an open-ended set of linguistic expressions. These expressions associate a semantic representation of some kind with a phonological representation, but this association is not entirely arbitrary. Grammar is the process of grouping morphemes into progressively larger configurations and is inherently symbolic. Grammatical and semantic components are not to be separated, for grammar is the structuring and symbolization of semantic content. The second assumption is that language is an essential part of human cognition, and that if one is to understand linguistic structure one needs to understand cognitive processing. There is no well-defined separation between linguistic ability and other forms of cognitive processing, and therefore cognitive psychology and linguistics must be integrated. The third assumption is that of `naturalness': descriptions must be `natural' in that they must deal with data in all its complexity and subtlety. Natural descriptions are to be contrasted with `artifactual' ones, which destroy the intrinsic organization of the data. Linguistic data is rarely discrete and linguistic categories are not always well defined. A linguistic theory must be `substantive', i.e. such a theory must possess conceptual clarity, and it must also correspond to something real.

For the author a `grammar' is a comprehensive description of its structure, with one class of grammars being those that can be written, and another being those that are envisioned by linguists. The latter do not exist he says, since they must satisfy requirements that cannot be met, such as being exhaustive in their coverage and psychologically accurate. The author though views cognitive grammar as a body of knowledge that can be constructed, that being done in terms of what he calls a `structured inventory of conventional linguistic units.' These units are the structures that have been mastered by the speaker to such an extent that they are habitual, and even though may have a large degree of `internal complexity', they are `effectively simple' in that they do not require constructive effort for their use.

Linguistic structures are organized on a continuous scale of what the author calls `entrenchment'. The regular use of a structure moves up its level of entrenchment, but long periods of disuse move it down. A novel structure can become so entrenched that it finally becomes a unit. Each unit has different degrees of entrenchment depending on its frequency of occurrence. The author asserts therefore that the greater the entrenchment the greater the linguistic significance.

The system of cognitive grammar is summarized as saying that semantic units are defined relative to cognitive `domains'. A concept or a knowledge base can function as one of these domains. In addition, linguistic semantics is asserted to be `encyclopedic', in that the meaning of an expression is usually dependent on specifications in many domains. Some of these domains play a more central role than others in giving this meaning. However, the role of expression in various domains can frequently be a peripheral aspect of its semantic value. The author encapsulates this by saying that language can `self-reference'. Lastly, the units are acquired through `decontextualization'. This means that through a process of abstraction, the extent of which is determined by the varieties of settings of the units and how consistently the units appear in these settings. The grammar of a language is to be viewed as an `inventory of linguistic units' and not a "generative description" that proceeds by formally constructing the well-formed sentences of the language. It is also not a set of operations what output the well-formed sentences. Language is not an autonomous formal system, but rather can only be understood and characterized in the context of a theory of human cognition. A complete description of human cognition would be needed to give an exhaustive description of language.

Langacker's Cognitive Approach to Linguistics
Ronald Langacker Cognitive Grammar is one of the most fine works on language and cognition of the last twenty years. Instead of deducing the organisation of conceptual system by means of pragmatic analisys of language (as Jackendoff and Talmy for istance)Langacker take up the hard task of describing language as a natural-cognitive based phenomena. Language, says Langacker, is simbolic in nature. This means that meaning pertains to all levels of language structure and that sintax and semantics can not be studied as separate components of language as argued by Chomsky. Moreover, semantics is strictly endowned in cognive structure. The cognive system and the cognive abilities of mind are, therefore, basical to the understanding of conceptual and linguistic structures. Again, the central role played by the notions of Landmark and Trajectory in Langacker'Cognitive Grammar lead Langacker's theory very close to gestalt psychology and to the struttural approach to language such that of Tesniére [1959]. All those aspects make of Langacker's CG a masterpiece to be remembered in the History of Linguistics. ... Read more

Product Description
The most detailed grammar of Italian available in English, the Second Edition provides students, teachers, and others with a comprehensive and accessible guide to the forms and structure of Italian. This book is indispensable to students of Italian, providing clear and detailed explanations of everything from the most elementary facts to more advanced points such as the various nuances of the subjunctive. The authors have made it an easy and illuminating reference tool, with extensive cross-referencing which enables readers to find the information they need quickly and easily. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Missing Pages!
I agree with all the reviewers who praise this excellent and exhaustive Italian grammar.Unfortunately my copy was missing pp. 319-350, so I had to return the book.And those were the very pages that give a thorough treatment of the use of the subjunctive, which is so important and interesting in Italian.Otherwise, I would have enthusiastically given this book the five stars it deserves.

Reference Grammer of Modern Italian
Excellent service, prompt delivery, excellent conditon
as described, packaged well.
Would use again.

don't buy it!
Based on the rave reviews I purchased this book.I am minoring in Italian and wanted a grammar that went into more detail than the very good, but basic one I own (Essential Italian Grammar Olga Ragusa).I have to agree with the other reviewer here who stated that this is not an easily accessible book.Like the other reviewer I too am near fluent in two other languages and already have a background in Italian.The book is not well organized, and though loaded with examples, few were of the kind that proved helpful in shedding light on the language in a way that improved my understanding of the nuances of usage.It is so poorly put together that I too am planning to toss it in the Goodwill bag, and look for another grammar book.

Superb!
I am no novice to grammars.I have been reading them for pleasure in dozens of languages for the past thirty years.When I learned Italian in college I skipped the basic courses and essentially taught myself the grammar, which was easy with prior knowledge of French and Spanish.Although I am fluent in Italian, most of what I know has come from using the language in real life, and there is much that I know intuitively but have never seen described in a grammar, even some excellent short grammars written in Italian.

As in any language, there are many subtleties, non-standard usages and simple matters of idiom that are just not covered in standard grammars, yet constitute matters of everyday usage and are often the essence of sounding natural in a language, rather than "translated".Professors Maiden and Robustelli have written a masterpiece of practical linguistics--I would say one of the best concise grammars I have ever come across in any language!While not truly exhaustive (impossible in a volume this size), they cover an astounding number of those issues that, as an advanced speaker, I knew intuitively but never knew the rule for.Moreover, they repeatedly offer insight into shades of connotation and regional differences.I had no trouble at all finding the sections relating to several high-level questions of mine, using the index.There is a great advantage to reading a grammar in English, rather than Italian, which is that idiomatic differences and similarities between the languages can be highlighted.

I can certainly sympathize with the frustrations of the college student trying to use this as a learner's grammar.The organization is a little bit idiosyncratic, but I think this is a function of its comprehensiveness.Many subsections just don't lend themselves to fitting neatly into an intuitive traditional grammatical structure.But in reality the conceptual organization of the chapters is brilliant and obviously reflects a lot of thought and deep understanding.I found the weakest section to be perhaps that on prepositions, but this is probably true of any grammar because of the idiomatic complexity of prepositional expressions, rendering them more a matter of semantic (lexical) study than strictly grammatical.

Remember, this is a REFERENCE grammar.If you are new to the language and try to read this from cover to cover, your head will swim.However, regardless of your level, if you are serious about Italian, you will never regret owning this text.I am eternally grateful to the authors for making it available.

not for students
I am a college student, who based on the glowing reviews bought this book to help with second-year college Italian. In retrospect, I think that those reviews must not have been written with students in mind. Yes, this book is impressively exhaustive. It covers all the minutiae (minutaie I bet most native Italian speakers don't know or care to know). What it does not do is provide a readable grammar guide for students looking for a comprehensive yet concise supplement to textbook grammar lessons. It uses unnecessary linguistic jargon that is often not layman-accessible (I didn't understand a lot of it on the first read, and I am not a complete beginner. I am fluent in two other languages and am quite used to most of the main grammatical concepts presented.) It is also very poorly organized. The index is quite good, but the book is somehow still a nightmare to navigate. Anyway, after several weeks of frustration I gave this book away and am currently searching for a good student-oriented Italian grammar guide. I'm sure there's one out there. ... Read more

Product Description
A bona fide publishing phenomenon, Lynne Truss’s now classic #1 New York Times bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes its paperback debut after selling over 3 million copiesworldwide in hardcover.

We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species.

In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (578)

Outstanding English Composition Humor

|TITLE| "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation"

|AUTHOR| Lynne Truss

|REVIEWER|
· Josh Grossman, Colonel {r}, U.S. Army Medical Corps, M.D., F.A.C.P.

|BOOK TYPE| soft cover

|PAGES| 209

|ISBN| 1-592-40303-8

|COPYRIGHT| 2003

|PUBLISHER| Gotham Books

"We do not come as minding to content you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight we are not here." {1}

When we turn over this text we are delighted to find the raison d'etre {2} for the title inscribed on the back thus. "A panda walks into a cafe`. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draw a gun and fires two shots in the air. `Why?' asks the waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. `I'm a panda," he says at the door, `Look it up.' The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. `Panda. Large bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
My having been introduced to punctuation in high school on an historic manual typewriter and my having learned reasonably well and reasonably early that punctuation may well be and often is the crux {3} of writing, I appreciate and recommend this text for the reference shelves of all of our City and Country Public Libraries and the reference shelves of all of our Colleges of Arts and Sciences. Certainly our high school English teachers may well consider the feasibility of keeping their own, personal copy on their desk for ready reference in their ongoing teaching of English Composition.
While reading and rereading this text I am reminded of a sign I saw on the West Coast written by a probably functionally illiterate {4}, "Throw your clothes down the laundry shoot!" (Sic 5},


|REFERENCES|
1. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act IV, scene I
2. French {"reason for existence, reason to be, rationale"}
3. {The basic, central, critical point}
4. Probably unable to read this note and probably unable to write declarative sentences as to the meaning.
5. Latin, {thus in the original, exactly as written}

Doctor Josh welcomes e-mails at from International Medical Graduates needing Mentoring/Tutoring in English as their Second Language who are preparing for their United States Medical Licensure Examination III
{U.S.M.L.E. III}

Read "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" for a Jolly Examination of Importance ofPunctuation
This hilarious book was printed in 2003, but just recently came to my attention. The title is based on a joke involving a Panda who because of a missplaced comma - acts strangely.The author is British with great journalistic talent as well as a marvelous sense of humor.Lynne Trussgives us examples of how bad punctuation completely changes meaning; andapparent indifference of the populace to recognize their errors by too often memoralizing their gaffe in a permanent sign.Lynn manages to instruct while at the same time illustrating the importance of correct punctuation.I've always believed I was a stickler for good grammar, spelling, etc., however she is my goddess!I find myself searching all printed matter for errors and, to my sorrow, I find plenty of them.. Also to my chagrin, you will undoubtedly find errors in my review.Read this book!

My book wasn't "like new"
Product arrived in decent time but it was not "like new" as advertised. There were a few scratches and a rip in the cover. It was also kind of dirty.

Beware, Lest you Become too Punctilious Altogether!

Just call me "Ellen the Punctilious" from now on; because of Lynne Truss' little book, I'm hooked on proper punctuation! Commas, periods (full-stops, in UK), parentheses (brackets, in UK), semi-colons and colons, and everything in between is covered within these 204 pages, nestled between words of wit and wisdom that inform as well as entertain.

One of Truss' goals is to show us why punctuation is important and what we can do to keep it alive. Is it in danger of watering down and eventually disappearing? You bet your sweet bippy, and Truss carefully explains this to us as we go along, using historical and literary references that go back to the beginning of the written word.

A favorite quote: The reason it's worth standing up for punctuation is not that it's an arbitrary system of notation known only to an over-sensitive elite who have attacks of the vapours [sic] when they see it misapplied. The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning. Punctuation herds words together, keeps other apart. [end quote], p.20

How important is the punctuation? Here is a classic example from p.9:
Dear Jack, I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy--will you let me be yours? Jill

COMPARE TO:

Dear Jack, I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Jill

See? Punctuation can be fun!

Caveat: this book was written by a Brit, and although they released the USA edition that I read, it was still chock full of formula that we don't use in America. Truss is disturbed horribly because we insist on putting our punctuation INSIDE the quotation marks. "Stop that, Lynne," Ellen said. (See, INSIDE). She's abhors the way we put periods after shortened proper nouns such as, Mr., Mrs., Dr., and Jr. And she calls the punctuation by their British names enough that if you don't pay close attention, you might become royally confused half-way in. The only real solution for this problem is for the author to rewrite the entire book just for the Yanks--which I'm fairly certain will never happen.

Still, a solid five stars for a helpful, informative, and sometimes laugh-out-loud-hilarious book.

Ellen C Maze
Author of Curious Spiritual Vampire Tales
RABBIT: CHASING BETH RIDER, Top 100 Horror/Occult on Amazon

A lively discussion on punctuation--who'd of thought?
Truss in a lively, humorous banter discusses (and teaches) about the guidelines of punctuation.For most, this book will be informative--you will certainly learn something about punctuation's proper usage, even if you consider yourself a punctuation guru--at the same time that is entertaining.

At first, I couldn't help but feel it to be somewhat of a waste (?) to devote one's entire life to the study of the ellipses "..." (cf. Truss, 2004)--powerful as they are--yet on the other hand, I cannot deny that in a very crucial way, punctuation illuminates meaning in a passage that could otherwise be misconstrued. It's like good manners. How kind.More @ [...] ... Read more

Product Description
Helping students understand the power of grammarfrom the inside out has the potential to transform theirwriting—and develop their lifelong love of with language.?? Angellilo shows how to teach students all the essentialskills they need related to grammar through deeply engaging inquiry study including strategies such as “mentorsentences” from well-loved literature as a way to teachstudents the “sense” or “cadence” of a complete sentence?? The author identifies mentor texts perfect for minilessonsthat support smart grammar study ?? Includes instructional strategies that build on the mentor texts ???? Helps teachers understand the grammar skills students need to thrive B78 and how best to introduce them over the course of school year ... Read more

Product Description
When should "whom" be used instead of "who"?What's a semicolon for?What's the difference between "farther" and "further"?Organized for quick reference, this guide covers every grammar issue, including:

• Parts of speech
• Subject-verb agreement
• Components of a sentence
• Punctuation
• Shifts in tense
• Commonly confused words
• Prefixes, suffixes, and roots
• Guide to avoiding offensive language

This handy and concise guide makes grammar and English usage easy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Quick Reference Desk Book
I use this book more often than not.It's a quick refernce book I keep by my desk.I also ordered a copy for my daughter-in-law as a quick way to hone up her English writing skills. ... Read more

Product Description

Your one-stop guide to mastering the basics of Arabic

Customer Reviews (10)

Great
Jane, and Mahmoud do a good job of explaining what needs to be explained. The only irk about the book is they left out transliteration for most sentences; but transliterated the important sections, namely the verbs. I had purchased another book by them "Easy Arabic Grammar", which really boosts up the common what's what of Arabic, and did transliterate all example sentences, but was more of a student reference guide, with activities, this book "Verbs & Essentials of Grammar" details a lot more, and gives the necessary verb forms, Jussive, Imperative, Subjunctive and so on. This book coupled with perhaps a Hans-Wehr dictionary would become indispensable, and you will be on your way to fluency with practice. The book basically answered all the questions I had scratched by head over when looking at verbs, wondering how to use a verb this way or that way. If your goal is fluency, all the things they explain are not typically necessary to know advanced rules for but it will make it clearer for you, so I recommend it to get a foothold on the language, but then remember always to bulk vocabulary to a few thousand words, and practice in the field with native speakers.

limited usefulness
there are some efforts to make the book interesting but despite this, the content is of moderate usefulness.

Recent Order
The service was great. I ordered my book 5 days before my class started and the package arrived promptly and the book was in excellent condition, looked brand new. The price was absolutely the best. I will definitely order future books from this company.

helpful, and not just for those starting out
The Arabic verb is both simpler and harder than that of languages more familiar to English speaking learners.Simpler, because basically you have two tenses:Perfect and Imperfect.(The future, negative future and past habitual tenses, as well as the jussive and subjunctive moods are all formed by small changes or additions to the imperfect). Harder, because of the bewildering variety of sizes and shapes in which the verb can appear. The simplest form, which is usually referred to as Form I, consists of words built upon a 'root', almost always of three consonants (once in a while four), with eight of the remaining nine forms, which usually change some nuance of the Form I's meaning, being derived by an internal change to the original verb or by attaching a prefix to it.

This little book is a great resource for keeping track of all this, and it is a particularly helpful reference when it is necessary to deal with the often confusing doubled or hollow verbs. You can't beat the price, either.

A very good introduction to the basics of Arabic!
This book is simple, concise and insightful. It presents the verbal forms and tenses, the adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and other important grammatical categories and rules. The examples that are introduced reflect real-life situations.
On the whole, the work is a very good introduction to the basics of Arabic.

Joyce Akesson author of The Complexity Of The Irregular Verbal And Nominal Forms & The Phonological Changes In Arabic and Arabic Morphology and Phonology: Based on the Marah Al-Arwah by Ahmad B. Ali B. Masud (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics) ... Read more

Product Description

Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar: A Practical Guide is an innovative reference guide to Brazilian Portuguese, combining traditional and function-based grammar in a single volume.

The Grammar is divided into two parts. Part A covers traditional grammatical categories such as agreement, nouns, verbs and adjectives. Part B is carefully organized around language functions covering all major communication situations such as:

• establishing identity
• making contact
• expressing likes, dislikes and preferences.

With a strong emphasis on contemporary usage, all grammar points and functions are richly illustrated with examples. Main features of the Grammar include:

• clear, jargon-free explanations
• emphasis on the language as it is spoken and written today
• extensive cross-referencing between the different sections.

A combination of reference grammar and practical usage manual, Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar is the ideal resource for learners of Brazilian Portuguese at all levels, from beginner to advanced.

John Whitlam is a freelance writer, university lecturer and lexicographer based in Rio de Janeiro. He has authored a number of language teaching books and project coordinated and co-authored three of the best-selling bilingual dictionaries of Portuguese and English.

Product Description

Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar is a complete reference guide to modern Dutch grammar. This completely updated new edition covers the new spelling system introduced in 1997 and the latest reform of 2005. A new section covers modal particles.

Concentrating on the real patterns of use in modern Dutch through lively and accessible descriptions of the language, the Grammar is an essential reference source for the learner of Dutch, irrespective of level. It is ideal for use in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types as well as being indispensable to those teaching themselves.

The volume is organized to promote a thorough understanding of Dutch grammar. It offers a stimulating analysis of the complexities of the language, and provides full and clear explanations. Throughout, the emphasis is on Dutch as used by present-day native-speakers. An extensive index and numbered paragraphs provide readers with easy access to the information they require.

Features include:

• detailed treatment of the common grammatical structures and parts of speech

• extensive exemplification

• particular attention to areas of confusion and difficulty

• Dutch-English parallels highlighted throughout the book

Customer Reviews (7)

For intermediate learners, yes, but still comprehensive
English-speaking learners of Dutch are done a great service by Bruce Donaldson. His comprehensive grammar [which I recommend be used in conjunction with the Routledge Essential Dutch Grammar and Dutch-English Dictionary] lives up to its name with its enormous scope, but unfortunately for the beginner, does away with the absolute basics and assumes that the reader already has these covered. Donaldson covers all manner of idiomatic usage in the book [particularly his extremely useful section on prepositions], though he unfortunately steers clear of modal particles. He explains away some constructions by recommending a parrot-fashion approach, but for the most part is very good at clarifying peculiar usages. For those interested in taking their Dutch explorations a step further, Kevin Cook's Dubbel Dutch serves as an excellent follow up to this volume [if you are: a. able to get your hands on it and b. willing to foot its price tag]

PS: The discrepancy in price between hardcover and paperback editions of this book is absurd. Stick to paperback.

Strictly Pedagogical
The following review refers to the first edition:

This grammar is directed primarily at the intermediate student of the language, and in serving that audience, fails on two counts to earn the descriptor 'comprehensive'. In the first place, it assumes, especially with regard to phonology and graphology, that the reader is already substantially versed in the Dutch standard, and provides description only of points troublesome to a reader with such knowledge. It also fails to provide full treatment of forms deemed unusual or archaic, believing them to fall outside the range of interest of its intended audience, which demands a rough-and-ready practical description of contemporary Dutch usage. It is that which this grammar provides, not comprehensive description of the Dutch language.

Best Dutch Grammer I Could Have Hoped For
Over 30 years ago when I tried to learn the basics of the Dutch language in-country, there was nothing like this available. It was a struggle, particularly so when you're butchering the basics and kindly Dutch folks inevitably say, "Why don't we just speak English?" (which they do ever so well).

Ah, but now I'm older and wise enough to have picked up Donaldson's superb Dutch grammar for another go at the subject, this time in the warmer clime of the Dutch West Indies.

It's still a struggle, but thanks to this great resource, the "Why don't we just ..." questions come far less frequently. Reading Donaldson's "Comprehensive Grammar" is actually (amazingly) pleasureable and a good thing, too, since that's likely to be a daily affair for those who really want to learn this complicated "keel ziekte". A bit pricy, sure, but a great value, indispensible for the likes of me.

THE book you need
I totally agree with the other reviews about the value of this book. I have (and still use) Henry Stern's Dutch grammar book, but was to the point where I needed more information. Well, I sure got it! I was searching for something good but not quite as expensive as this book, but finally broke down and got it. It's well worth the cost.
I do think this should not be the choice for beginners, but for advanced learners that want the info without having to wade through reading a grammar book in Dutch I give it two thumbs up... heck, I'll borrow my Dutch boyfriend's thumbs and go for four thumbs up.

Bruce Donaldson's other book, Beyond the Dictionary in Dutch, is also awesome and great for someone with a little experience in the language.

Susanne Spangler

The most useful Dutch grammar you will ever need
Somewhere out there there may be a more comprehensive Dutch grammar for English speakers, but you won't need it unless you are a scholar. This book covers pretty much every useful grammatical topic you will need for learning Dutch. Thankfully, Dutch is not a particularly difficult language for English speakers, so that fact helps keep the size of this grammar manageable. Any assiduous student should be able to master it in less that six months. After reading it you should be able to read any newspaper; and although speaking is a totally different animal, there is no reason you should not have a good grounding in speaking proper Dutch. The book, however, does not delve into colloquialisms to a great degree. ... Read more

Product Description
At last, a guide that explains points of French grammar and structure simply, then clarifies each with concrete examples. The examples use the language of real-life situations. This new edition also makes difficult topics, like the difference between mood and tense, even easier to understand. Numerous fill-in-the-blank and other exercises with delayed answers help cut down the time it takes readers to gain proficiency and confidence communicating in French. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

French Grammar that I do not recommend using
I teach French and this book sucks. I bought it used for like 50cent, which is good, b/c I have not been able to use it for my classes. The grammar is disorganized and coupled oddly. Also - while it has some first year concepts/grammar, it uses 2nd/3rd year vocabulary.

A Great Source
Schaum' Outling is simply a perfect book which has everything inside including tons of exercises. Once you finish this book like I did you will see that other books are not that necessary to do because this one is enough. It is written every possible detail that you can imagine so it makes sure that you dont skip any exception. I suggest this book to everybody however I believe that you would better profit from this book if you know just a little bit basic french but thats all. Now I can write and say whatever I want and I can communicate and live easily in a francophone country. Thank you Schaum!

A must have for serious or semi serious French students!!
I have used Schaum's Outline for Spanish, Italian and now French. They are the best. Not for the casual grammarian however.

Good review book
This book is a good, comprehensive review of grammar for intermediate and advanced French speakers; without prior knowledge of French, it might be a little hard to understand.

Excellent book for learning French grammar
Schaum's Outline is an excellent resource for learning grammar, one of the best I've used by far. I'd definitely recommend this as a resource to someone with at least a basic knowledge of French who wants to learn/improve their grammar.

I study French at university and use this book alongside my classes even though it isn't a set text. It's in-depth, and there are plenty of exercises with answers at the back of the book to hammer the new concepts in with. It is less of a reference book and more of a 'learning' book. I particularly liked the fact that I was learning vocabulary while completing the exercises in the book, as translations to example sentences are included.

Five stars for good layout, easy to understand explanations, and plenty of exercises with answers! ... Read more

Product Description

This text gives broad, up-to-date coverage of English grammatical facts and related concepts of introductory linguistics, emphasizing argumentation and motivation for empirically-based grammatical analyses without theoretical debates. It treats the prescriptive/descriptive distinction, phonology, morphology, word classes, phrase structure analysis of both simple sentences and a variety of complex sentences, grammatical relations, and anaphora (pronouns and pronoun-like elements).

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Customer Reviews (3)

Excelent service
My review for this item is that the delivery service was great.I got the book in less than the time estimated.I recommend this service to anyone who wants to buy it.

An excellent 2nd or 3rd book on grammar and linguistics
This book is wonderful. It contains a bevvy of information on syntactic structures, not just in the English language, but from languages around the world. It is not, as some might expect, a "do-this-don't-do-that" prescriptivist manual on how to write or speak; if that is what you need, look elsewhere. There are plenty of books that can tell you not to end sentences with prepositions, or what a split infinitive is. This book explores living language in all of its wonderful vitality.

Too Esoteric
This book is not for the average person to refresh his or her understanding of English grammar. This book investigates grammar from a perspective that demands far too much effort for anyone looking to review rules of grammar. Often the standard terminology for grammar is replaced by the author's own vocabulary. Perhaps the book would be helpful for someone who is an aspiring linguist searching for a multiplicity of esoteric investigations of the English language. This book could be one of those investigations. Or maybe a college student could use this book as part of his/her background material in writing a paper. Otherwise, the ratio of effort to reward is not satisfactory. ... Read more

Product Description
Keeping technical terminology to a minimum, this comprehensive handbook provides a detailed yet accessible overview of Arabic wherein its phonology, morphology and syntax can be readily accessed. Accompanied by extensive examples, it will prove an invaluable practical guide for supporting students' textbooks, classroom work or self-study, and a useful resource for scholars and professionals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Amazing and Simple Reference Grammar
This book spells it all out for you and covers what you need to know and what the nerds want to know.It's easy to read and clear and i've lent it out to many of my friends who studied/study Arabic and I recommend it as an essential if you care to take your studies of Arabic past the second year. I'm soon going on to graduate studies in Arabic and still always have it handy.Once you have your grammar down, learning Arabic becomes an entirely different process and being able to use your knowledge of grammar just makes the seemingly infinite number of words and morphological variations present in Arabic not so daunting because you're able to dissect every word and you pretty much only need your Hans-Wehr. And when a dictionary is the only thing you need left when studying a language, you're pretty well off.

In love with a book
This is a nice big book, I didn't expect it to be so big like half the size of a phone book, but it just makes it that much better. Now I know a lot of people like to write "Not for beginners", "Advanced linguists", and so on, I tend to see that as rather cocky, but I will say the terminology used in the book isn't for a novice, not to say a beginner cannot pick up the book and learn a whole lot but rather it will take some getting used to. Now, like others said I will reiterate, you cannot 'learn Arabic' from this book, it's a reference guide, meaning you should be learning Arabic (i.e., Vocab, Numbers, Oral Communication, Culture) elsewhere, and using this to reinforce and answer a lot of the questions you'll probably have regarding the peculiarities of Arabic. I haven't gotten through the whole book, I'm over 100 pages in and Already learned a lot in sections I thought I know a lot about like Nouns, there's a lot of nitty gritty other books wont tell you that this one does. The book covers basically all the fundamentals of Arabic speech, from Nouns, Adverbs, Adjectives, Verbs, and a lot more, and it'll keep you busy for a long time.

The most important thing to state with this book is, don't make it your ONLY book. It's long, detailed, but will not give you fluency, it's meant to explain the everyday things in Arabic speech. The first 200 pages are going to be rough since the book is so big, that you need to hold it open or else it will shut, but when you get to the middle of the book it'll hold itself open, over 700 pages is a lot plus it's measurements are pretty big too so keep that in mind.

All in all, perfect solution for grammar, you wont need much else, as long as you're following some kind of language learning system be it at school or self teaching this will boost your knowledge of FusHa al Asr 100x.

Excellent Reference Guide
This is an excellent reference guide for the intermediate to advanced student. No need to restate what the other reviewers have already pointed out, just wanted to add my support. Great book, great index, and if you still need more information, her footnotes and list of references should cover you.

What you want in a reference
If you are taking university Arabic courses and the points of grammar are not fully explained, this is an excellent reference as there are plenty of examples. The only thing it is missing for the student is the I'raab. The inflections are missing in the examples, but made up for in the transliterations.

If you've never explored a grammar book before, Ryding does a good job of reiterating how the Arabic language works to form structure, the grammar terms will become familiar over time as you gain experience using the book. Don't be intimidated. The table of contents is clear and straightforward following all major forms that you'd be familiar with: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and then breaks them down into their respective parts.

Again, this is a reference, if you use it as such, it will a great aid.

Well.-organized Arabic study
In this book of more than 700 pages, Ryding presents the essential details of the Arabic language's complexities. The work is well-organized, systematic and thorough and the index facilitates its use.

Joyce Akesson author of The Complexity of the Irregular Verbal and Nominal Forms & the Phonological Changes in Arabic ... Read more

Product Description
Tired of mixing up "effect" and "affect"? Do apostrophes baffle you? Never sure if it's "Antonio and I" or "Antonio and me" who "bring cookies to Carmen"? (Wait! Is it "take cookies"?) Once and for all, put such grammar riddles to rest. With this cartoon-filled, A to Z grammar guide in hand, you can sidestep common bloopers, untangle your mixed metaphors, and corral those dangling modifiers.

Featuring the same winning formula of wacky cartoons, off-the-wall examples, and catchy reminders as its prequel, NITTY-GRITTY GRAMMAR, this comprehensive, humorous handbook covers grammar basics, plus more advanced language and usage topics, specific grammar terms, and other complex conundrums. It's perfect for schools, businesses, families--for people of all ages who want to polish their writing and speaking skills.Amazon.com Review
Grammar guides can be dry and pedantic, or they can imbue their somewhat tedious subject with warmth and humor. More Nitty-Gritty Grammar is the latter sort. An A-to-Z (OK, A-to-Y) guide, it appeals to contemporary students of grammar--be they actual students, workplace writers, or others--with examples they can relate to. Authors Edith H. Fine and Judith P. Josephson call upon Hideo Nomo to clear up the difference between pitcher and picture; Gov. Jesse ("the body") Ventura to illustrate the proper form for a sobriquet; and Cheese Puffs to clear up the double-negative issue. Elsewhere, they refer to Viagra, carrot smoothies, and the Dixie Chicks. For rules that just won't stick, they provide mnemonics. While the book is devoted mostly to grammar basics, there are elements to delight even the sophisticated grammarian. Among them: a section on the correct use of the en dash and reprints of nearly 60 grammar-related cartoons. --Jane Steinberg ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Extremely Helpful
This book is even better than I hoped. It is clear and easy to understand and also quite funny. I would not have thought english grammer could be such fun.

excellent book
if this book satisfies my sister-in-law who is the best teacher in Texas and probably in the United States, then it is great for my homeschooling.

Easy and Quick way to review basic grammar
This easy to read grammar book fit the bill for me when I needed to brush up on some basic rules quickly for an exam.There are plenty of examples to help cement each concept and the authors also use comic strips to emphasize each point.I highly recommend this book the anyone who wants to learn how to write a paper correctly.

Grammarians Without Rancor
There has never been a friendlier invitation to master English usage basics than Nitty-Gritty Grammar until its new companion, More Nitty-Gritty Grammar. I recommend them for all my community college students. Not in the ivory tower crowd, authors Fine and Josephson are, however, astute observers of language ills and, if laughter is the best medicine, most-palatable healers. Their topics are relevant, their well-researched explanations straightforward, their examples fresh and funny. My students agree.

The best single volume on grammar
Better organized and more comprehensive than even the popular _Transitive Vampire_ series or _Woe Is I_, this second book by Josephson and Fine is whimsical and easy to use.It's packed with humorous examples that are current and uncontrived.This is the only book I've found to cover some of the finer points that have always bothered or confused me--such as when British convention differs from that in America.Indispensable! ... Read more

Product Description
In 1882, D.B. Munro wrote that "a new Grammar of the Homeric dialect is sorely wanted". Monro's 2nd edition (1891), long out of print, is presented here in full, providing a comprehensive account of Homeric Greek grammar. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Already a classic on linguistic Theory
This book is what I can call the most important book I have ever read on linguistics for three good reason:

1. When I was studying linguistics all my background was on generative linguistics, and I was educated to disregard any approach to language that uses a conceptual bias or a "semantical explanation" of syntactic problems. This book gave me solid seasons to belief that semantics is the main aspect of human language and that you can be serious and elegant explaining syntax without falling into an extreme formal reductionism.

2. Every explanation here rests over an explicit cognitive ability. There are no movements, transformations, extreme principles (a la "Goverment and Binding" or Minimalist fashion). There is just what anyone can recognize as a cognitive way to picture reality. So, concepts like profile, domain, foreground, background, temporal sacaning, conceptual region, etc, sound, at first very cryptical. But after a few moments, you are boud to say: "Yes, that's It. It's so simple and clear that I feel ashamed I couldn't have seen it earlier!".

3. Finally, the consecuences of a theory of grammar in wich natural cognition is deeply involved makes us think again about the human nature. That is, we are not specialized beings divided into perfectly isolated complex mental modules, but we are holistic creatures experiencing and comparing in a very flexible, creative way. And under that way of thinking, Ronald Langacker has developed one of the more compelling and insightful grammatical theories on modern linguistics.

I recomend this book for those who are looking for an alternative way to mainstream linguistics. Today, almost 20 years after the first time this book and his brother were first published, Cognitive Linguistics is a serious enterprise that can not be fully ackowledged without this masterpiece. ... Read more

Product Description
Syntactica, the companion software application tool, can be found at http://mitpress.mit.edu/syntactica


This introductory text takes a novel approach to the study of syntax. Grammar as Science offers an introduction to syntax as an exercise in scientific theory construction. Syntax provides an excellent instrument for introducing students from a wide variety of backgrounds to the principles of scientific theorizing and scientific thought; it engages general intellectual themes present in all scientific theorizing as well as those arising specifically within the modern cognitive sciences. The book is intended for students majoring in linguistics as well as nonlinguistics majors who are taking the course to fulfill undergraduate requirements.

Grammar as Science covers such core topics in syntax as phrase structure, constituency, the lexicon, inaudible elements, movement rules, and transformational constraints, while emphasizing scientific reasoning skills. The individual units are organized thematically into sections that highlight important components of this enterprise, including choosing between theories, constructing explicit arguments for hypotheses, and the conflicting demands that push us toward expanding our technical toolkit on the one hand and constraining it on the other.

Grammar as Science is constructed as a "laboratory science" course in which students actively experiment with linguistic data. Syntactica, a software application tool that allows students to create and explore simple grammars in a graphical, interactive way, is available online in conjunction with the book. Students are encouraged to "try the rules out," and build grammars rule-by-rule, checking the consequences at each stage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

perfect for starters
It is an introduction to syntax textbook especially perfect for undergrads. It is illustrated throughout the book. The chapters are short and clear-cut. I would recommend it to students who are new to the field of syntax. Although I have only read a few chapters, and so far so good! ... Read more

Product Description
Grammar Sense is based on the authentic use of English grammar in discourse.Grammar Sense recognizes that knowing how and when to use a structure is as important as knowing the form. ... Read more

Product Description
Schaum's Outline of Japanese Grammar covers the sequential treatment of the essentials of Japanese grammar, from simpler concepts to more complex, makes learning and reviewing easy.

• Concrete examples following coverage of grammar functions promote students, understanding of material
• Practice exercises use meaningful, practical contexts to develop students, mastery of grammatical elements
• Chapter-ending summary exercises let students practice all functions learned in each section

Customer Reviews (9)

Jack of all trades, master of none
Pretty much sums up this book. It tries to do too much and ends up skimming over the details. I would give it a higher score but it doesn't really do a good job at what it covers and the examples are vague & cumbersome. It feels like the authors are trying too hard. If you're new to Japanese stay away from this.

A Very Useful Tool!
I was looking for something to review my basic Japanese grammar before I moved onto the intermediate level, and Schaum's Outline of Japanese Grammar was perfect! It goes over just about every essential beginner grammar ponit, with plenty of excercises along the way. All Japanese text is either in hiragana, katakana, or kanji, with romaji at the bottom. Very useful, and I'm quite satisfied!

only for intermediate learners
This is not for beginners, you should have completed a basic course/book before attempting this one.
If you are a complete beginner you will gain nothing from this book.

The structure of the book is this:
1. the grammar is explained in English and with romanization
2. followed by example sentences in script, romanization and English
3. after this comes exercises such as put the "wa" or "ga" in the correct place
4. review-exercises written ONLY in script and romanization
5. review-exercises where you translate from English into either romanization or script

So why is it not good for beginners ?:

1. There are no vocabulary listings in each chapter, so if you don't know any Japanese you can't tell what the romanized words actually mean

2. There are too many words in each chapter to make vocabulary memorization realistic: it is too time-consuming if you have to look up words all the time in your dictionary - this is supposed to be a grammar book, and not a vocabulary book

3. In many exercises no English translations are given at all! Just the script and romanization...again, if you know any Japanese beforehand...

This is a good book for intermediate learners who need some reference or revision-book.
But for beginner's this is a very poor choice.

If you are a beginner, I can recommend this book instead for you,Japanese Grammar (Barron's Grammar Series), which is written entirely in romanization and explains the grammar very clearly.

an excellent companion book for any Japanese learner
This book covers just about every important bit of the Japanese Grammar in a comprehensible manner.

Each part is given a short intro, explained shorly and clearly and then is given numerous example in all romaji, Japanese (Kana + Kanji) and its english translation in which the grammar part is bolded out to stress its influence on the sentence.

Then there are explanation and examples of common speech patterns in which the grammar part is used (and then followed by yet another numerous examples). There are also many exercises at the end of each section with answers at the end of the book.

The last part is probably the most important part. It covers many of the common patterns and addressing such as comparison, asking for premission, giving advice, ect.

I used this book through my studies from being an absolute beginner. Even now it serves as a great reference and review book since it organized in a way that you can easily find any speech patten you seek and view varius examples that will remind you what you had forgot.

Great Basic Grammar Guide
Technically, this is a cram guide for College students studying japanese for courses. But it makes an ideal companion for people living in Japan who are learning a lot of words through osmosis, but need a little help with thegrammar to help them structure what they know and take their Japanese to a basic level.

I used this book to help me with my grammar within 6 months of arriving in Japan, and it helped me make the leap from being able to make single to triple word declarations in Japanese, to being able to speak in full sentences, and helped put me on the road to fluency. It shows you how to form basic sentences (for example comparisons "X is bigger than Y" etc) in a simple, straightforward manner. Since it's an outline of the most fundamental grammar, all of it is highly relevant and useful, with no filler.

One thing though- As useful as it is for beginners, since it only covers fundamental elementary grammar, good students will quickly outgrow it. Once finished with it I would recommend "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar" by Seiichi Nakino and Michio Tsutsui, also available here on amazon.

By the way- the reviewer below is right about "Wo" not being a mistranslation. It's a standard, if confusing way to spell it. You need to
type "wo" to get that particle if you're typing in Japanese on a web browser or microsoft word, for example.

... Read more