Practice Makes Perfect: Advanced French Grammar: All You Need to Know for Better Communication (Practice Makes Perfect Series)

click here for more details, find new or used items	Véronique Mazet Our price £8.49 (£8.99) New from £3.77 Used from £4.72 Pages: 240 (Paperback) ISBN: 0071476954 Pub: McGraw-Hill Contemporary Pub date: 2008-05-01 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 54556

Reader Reviews:

Chapter on Subjunctive Alone is Well Worth the Price! (4/4 people found this helpful)

Advanced French Grammar dives into the the most difficult aspects of French grammar. I think the chapter on the subjunctive and the distinction between "c'est" and "il est" are worth the price of the book.

Here is a list of the chapters in Advanced French Grammar

1. Understanding the verb
2. Compound tenses and agreement of the past participle
3. Use of the past tenses
4. Translating the -ing form into French
5. Relative tenses introduced by que
6. The subjunctive
7. Relative tenses not introduced by que
8. Articles
9. Other determiners
10. Relative pronouns
11. Neutral relative pronouns: translating a different kind of what
12. Determining a noun with prepositions
13. Object pronouns
14. Position of object pronouns
15. Expressing this is and that is: ce, ça, and il
16. Questions
17. Translating for, since, and a few other expressions of time
18. Negative sentences

I've already mentioned that my favorite parts of the book were the sections on the subjunctive and c'est/il est. I especially liked how the author gave a list of "trigger expressions" for the subjunctive. She also gave a list of expressions that do not trigger the subjunctive.

I liked the chapter on the past tenses, but I didn't love it. It seems to explain the imparfait the exact same way several other books and teachers explain it; they say it describes the scenery. And I really don't like this explanation because it's so unclear to me. When I tutor students on the difference between the imparfait and the passé composé, I use the acronyms HIDE and STARS.

Imparfait - HIDE

Habitual Actions (used to + VERB)
Incomplete Actions (was/were + ing form of verb)
Descriptions in the past
Emotions/Feelings (most of the time)

Passé Composé - STARS

Sudden Ocurrence
Time Limit/Complete Action
Action Disrupts Action of Imparfait Verb
Reaction/Result
Series of Distince Instances or Events

The other chapters explain prepositions, pronouns, making questions, negating, etc. I highly recommend this book to any intermediate or advanced French learner.

Brandon Simpson

Similar Products

Practice Make Perfect: French Vocabulary (Practice Makes Perfect Series)

Practice Makes Perfect Complete French Grammar (Practice Makes Perfect Series)

Practice Makes Perfect: French Verb Tenses (Practice Makes Perfect Series)

Practice Makes Perfect: French Pronouns and Prepositions (Practice Makes Perfect Series)

French Grammar Drills (Drills Series)

Categories

Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories: