Rating: 
Summary: Spanish Workbooks - Pronouns and Prepositions
Review: I think that anyone interested in studying Spanish, especially if they want to study it on their own, should have this workbook as part of their repertoire. I have found it invaluable. I recommend it highly. (I have also purchased and studied her other workbook on Verb Tenses and the reviews for both books are similar.)I have given the book a 4 star rating rather than five for the following reasons: 1. Lack of an index: I find it hard to comprehend how a contemporary academic book can be published without an index. There is a tremendous amount of valuable information contained in this book but being limited to the Table of Contents or to ones memory of where a specific item can be found is debilitating. This is a terrible ommission. 2. There are times when the Author appears to have been in a rush and has not either given sufficient examples or explanations on why a particular rule was invoked. One is left to wonder if there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the point being made or if there is simply a typographical error. Those who are reading this book on their own, without the benefit of an instructor, would benefit greatly from some additional explanations (and cross references.) It is clear from the book's Acknowledgements page that Dorothy Richmond wrote this book because of the persistent nagging of her students to provide additional examples, but most readers will not be in her classroom, rather, they will be virtual students, highly dependent upon additional textual clarification.
Rating:
Summary: Spanish Workbooks - Pronouns and Prepositions
Review: I think that anyone interested in studying Spanish, especially if they want to study it on their own, should have this workbook as part of their repertoire. I have found it invaluable. I recommend it highly. (I have also purchased and studied her other workbook on Verb Tenses and the reviews for both books are similar.) I have given the book a 4 star rating rather than five for the following reasons: 1. Lack of an index: I find it hard to comprehend how a contemporary academic book can be published without an index. There is a tremendous amount of valuable information contained in this book but being limited to the Table of Contents or to ones memory of where a specific item can be found is debilitating. This is a terrible ommission. 2. There are times when the Author appears to have been in a rush and has not either given sufficient examples or explanations on why a particular rule was invoked. One is left to wonder if there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the point being made or if there is simply a typographical error. Those who are reading this book on their own, without the benefit of an instructor, would benefit greatly from some additional explanations (and cross references.) It is clear from the book's Acknowledgements page that Dorothy Richmond wrote this book because of the persistent nagging of her students to provide additional examples, but most readers will not be in her classroom, rather, they will be virtual students, highly dependent upon additional textual clarification.
Rating:
Summary: Get it for the pronouns...ignore the prepositions
Review: I used this book in a Spanish class given by a native Spanish speaker (yes, she was Spanish as in both the country and the language). She demonstrated NUMEROUS examples in the prepositions section where it's just not used that way in Spain. This book is written from a Central/South American perspective, yet that's not clearly stated, nor are the differences noted. Try taking your prepositions learned out of here into Spain and you may find yourself using them in a way that's funny to hear by native speakers...and worse, you could be misunderstood or misunderstand someone's directions. The pronoun sections are good and straightforward. I'm rating it four stars for its five-star pronoun section, and knocking off a point for the problems I noted above. Get it for the work on pronouns...you'll be glad you did (it's worth its cost for that, at least).
Rating:
Summary: Get it for the pronouns...ignore the prepositions
Review: I used this book in a Spanish class given by a native Spanish speaker (yes, she was Spanish as in both the country and the language). She demonstrated NUMEROUS examples in the prepositions section where it's just not used that way in Spain. This book is written from a Central/South American perspective, yet that's not clearly stated, nor are the differences noted. Try taking your prepositions learned out of here into Spain and you may find yourself using them in a way that's funny to hear by native speakers...and worse, you could be misunderstood or misunderstand someone's directions. The pronoun sections are good and straightforward. I'm rating it four stars for its five-star pronoun section, and knocking off a point for the problems I noted above. Get it for the work on pronouns...you'll be glad you did (it's worth its cost for that, at least).
Rating: 
Summary: EXCELLENTE PRACTICA
Review: If you are looking for a good book to practice the use of pronouns, por y para, and prepositions this is it. It gives good practical easy to understand explainations and practice exercise with the answers in the back of the book. This is wonderful for the extra help you need or also good for use as a textbook for a spanish class.
Rating:
Summary: More of the Same Excellence
Review: If you have read my review of Dorothy Richmond's other book (Spanish Verb Tenses), you'll know that I am very pleased with her learning-Spanish books. With possibly the exception of Marical Prado's 2 books (Practical Spanish Grammar and Advanced Spanish Grammar), I can not think of 2 books written by the same author that are as helpful for learning to Speak Spanish. You'll still need to take Spanish classes or a home study Spanish course like Learning Spanish Like Crazy to use in conjunction with Richmond's two Spanish grammar books. But for the price, you really cannot beat Richmond's books to learn Spanish.
Rating:
Summary: Foreign Service Officer thinks its Great!
Review: Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions is a great book for practicing these often forgotten parts of speech that are critical for achieving fluency in Spanish. 14 units, 3-12 pages each, each cover a different use of pronouns in Spanish, and prepositions (especially por and para) likewise receive extensive coverage. Each unit opens with a bit of reading, but the practice starts quickly. The book's translation exercises are especially valuable for learning vocabulary and forming sentences in context. The answers to all the exercises are in the back, so you can get instant feedback on how well you are doing. I've noticed a problem with this text, however. While each unit includes at least several exercises, I feel that this is often not enough to gain a firm understanding of the material. With so many different uses of pronouns, for example, it is easy to forget the one done six units ago. And since the text teaches the uses of so many different prepositions, more practice with them would be helpful. As a result, I believe this book could be improved by including additional exercises in each unit, plus several review translation exercises that incorporate the content of multiple units. Even with this minor problem, this book is easily the best workbook that I've seen for learning Spanish pronouns and prepositions. And for $10, it's tough to go wrong (Spanish workbooks inferior to this that are used in my college cost $20-30 or more). Go ahead, buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Great Spanish Practice Tool
Review: Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions is a great book for practicing these often forgotten parts of speech that are critical for achieving fluency in Spanish. 14 units, 3-12 pages each, each cover a different use of pronouns in Spanish, and prepositions (especially por and para) likewise receive extensive coverage. Each unit opens with a bit of reading, but the practice starts quickly. The book's translation exercises are especially valuable for learning vocabulary and forming sentences in context. The answers to all the exercises are in the back, so you can get instant feedback on how well you are doing. I've noticed a problem with this text, however. While each unit includes at least several exercises, I feel that this is often not enough to gain a firm understanding of the material. With so many different uses of pronouns, for example, it is easy to forget the one done six units ago. And since the text teaches the uses of so many different prepositions, more practice with them would be helpful. As a result, I believe this book could be improved by including additional exercises in each unit, plus several review translation exercises that incorporate the content of multiple units. Even with this minor problem, this book is easily the best workbook that I've seen for learning Spanish pronouns and prepositions. And for $10, it's tough to go wrong (Spanish workbooks inferior to this that are used in my college cost $20-30 or more). Go ahead, buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Just Fabulous! My Favorite of 6 Workbooks that I own.
Review: Stuck on por and para? Her explanations are so terrific that I could take a quiz in her book and not only get all 30 correct, but even be able to cite her "rule" for using the correct one. I have been struggling with por and para for 6 months and she is the first to make it crystal clear. The exercises are simply superb. Her explanations make things really clear, then you get to practice, practice, practice. As she moves through the book, she sprinkles in the things you learned in previous chapters, so you get to review again and again. She uses lots of vocabulary and even provides it for you so you don't have to be looking it up constantly. This books will really clarify pronouns and prepositions for you, but it will do much more, too, with all the vocabulary and sentence structure that you will get to practice. The book is well laid out, has lots of room to write in the answers, and has all the answers in the back. You will NEVER get a better value for your money than this book. I have 6 workbooks that I am working through, but I decided to finish this one completely before working further in any of the others because it is so wonderful. This page is full of glowing reviews, but I couldn't resist writing another because this book really deserves it!
Rating:
Summary: Just Fabulous! My Favorite of 6 Workbooks that I own.
Review: Stuck on por and para? Her explanations are so terrific that I could take a quiz in her book and not only get all 30 correct, but even be able to cite her "rule" for using the correct one. I have been struggling with por and para for 6 months and she is the first to make it crystal clear. The exercises are simply superb. Her explanations make things really clear, then you get to practice, practice, practice. As she moves through the book, she sprinkles in the things you learned in previous chapters, so you get to review again and again. She uses lots of vocabulary and even provides it for you so you don't have to be looking it up constantly. This books will really clarify pronouns and prepositions for you, but it will do much more, too, with all the vocabulary and sentence structure that you will get to practice. The book is well laid out, has lots of room to write in the answers, and has all the answers in the back. You will NEVER get a better value for your money than this book. I have 6 workbooks that I am working through, but I decided to finish this one completely before working further in any of the others because it is so wonderful. This page is full of glowing reviews, but I couldn't resist writing another because this book really deserves it!
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