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Rating: 
Summary: Buen Libro
Review: Este es un libro que no debe faltar en si quieres hablar ingles. Te enseña de verdad como conversar en ingles. Ese era mi principal problema, podia leer y escribir pero se ma hacia muy dificil hablar. Con este libro todo fue mas facil despues. Claro siempre tienes que tener ganas de hacerlo. Es de un nivel intermedio
Rating:
Summary: Buen Libro
Review: Este es un libro que no debe faltar en si quieres hablar ingles. Te enseña de verdad como conversar en ingles. Ese era mi principal problema, podia leer y escribir pero se ma hacia muy dificil hablar. Con este libro todo fue mas facil despues. Claro siempre tienes que tener ganas de hacerlo. Es de un nivel intermedio
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent and quite inexpensive too
Review: I am a native English speaker who's studying Spanish for the first time since the two years I had it in school, which was at least a couple of decades ago at this point. This book is designed for Spanish speakers who want to improve their English, but after a couple of months of intense self-study, I'd reached the point where I could read this book pretty well. It's been very helpful to see English from "the other side" starting out with the the most useful English expressions and grammar, and then see them discussed from the standpoint of the Spanish. The verb and grammar tables were especially interesting since they assume and start with Spanish as the "normal" state of affairs, and then discuss how English differs from it. I found this quite refreshing and enjoyed seeing English from a different viewpoint from the perspective of the grammar, as I have a pretty good background in grammar and general linguistics, but haven't thought about English that much compared to some other languages. The book is just over 200 pages long and has 61 brief sections discussing various aspects of English, from grammar to phonetics to practical phrases and conversation. There are dozens of tables illustrating various aspects of English grammar, especially the verb system, and how it differs from Spanish. For example, one main difference is English's use of helping verbs and modal auxiliaries, which allow the use of so-called periphrastic verbal constructions for these functions, which is different from Spanish and French and the other Romance family languages. The book also includes hundreds of useful phrases, several vocabulary lists with Spanish phonetic equivalents, numerous example sentences to translate, and many other practical exercises such as word substitution and sentence-completion drills, a list of over 130 of the most common irregular verbs in English, a list of the most common irregular adjectives in English, and lists of new words and expressions to expand your vocabulary. Overall, a very nice little book and a great value at the price considering it's only eight bucks.
Rating:
Summary: A very helpful teaching tool
Review: Last year I graduated with a BA in Spanish literature. As an Anglo teaching English to Spanish speakers, I find this book extremely useful. I have ordered many copies for my students, who particularly like the vocabulary with the phonetic pronunciations (I consider my students the best judge of the tools that can help them towards their goals). I like the grid layout for memorizing the verb patterns; it gives a consistent framework for conceptualization. While the book argues that it is the perfect way to master everyday conversation painlessly and efficiently, I would argue that to learn a second language is not painless. But the results that I have found using this tool have been very encouraging.
Rating:
Summary: A very helpful teaching tool
Review: Last year I graduated with a BA in Spanish literature. As an Anglo teaching English to Spanish speakers, I find this book extremely useful. I have ordered many copies for my students, who particularly like the vocabulary with the phonetic pronunciations (I consider my students the best judge of the tools that can help them towards their goals). I like the grid layout for memorizing the verb patterns; it gives a consistent framework for conceptualization. While the book argues that it is the perfect way to master everyday conversation painlessly and efficiently, I would argue that to learn a second language is not painless. But the results that I have found using this tool have been very encouraging.
Rating: 
Summary: Uncommon English, lots of errors
Review: No le recomiendo este libro.
I'm disappointed in this book. I'm a native English speaker who also speaks Spanish, and I bought this book to help my wife, who is from Honduras, improve her English. The previous good reviews made it seem like a good bet, but it was not.
This book has some good points and some surprising flaws. I am nearly certain after looking through it that Bores's command of English was not all that great. Some examples:
1. The first several pages (a lot of attention!) focus on the verb "to wish", to illustrate various aspects of grammar. That's fine, but in reality nobody says "I don't wish to speak English." Any American would use "want" rather than "wish", and would think it silly to hear anyone repeatedly use "wish" in this manner. Similarly, several pages are dedicated to the word "must", but in reality many of the examples, e.g. "Where must Richard work now?" would be considered strange, at least in the U.S.
2. The book routinely omits periods in sentences. My wife has the habit of omitting punctuation, and we are trying to fix that. She doesn't need a grammar book that reinforces bad habits.
3. There are some flat-out grammatical errors. For example, on page 97 you will find the sentences "Whom did you speak?", "Whom did he give it?" and "Whom did they bring it?" Huh? Correct English would be "To whom did you speak?", etc., although "Who did you speak to?" is much more common English (few people use "whom" at all, and only some of those use it correctly). I think for a book on conversational English Bores should never have mentioned "whom" at all, and certainly should not have used it incorrectly.
Bores is generous with examples, which I like. Also, he includes phonetic spellings in vocabulary sections, which is always a plus for Spanish speakers. However, there is NO phonetic spelling in the many examples, unfortunately -- only in the vocabulary sections. There are lots of exercises given, but the answers are NOT given; I would prefer to see them on the facing page so students could check their work.
This book isn't a total loss, but I also bought Barron's "Domine lo Basico, Ingles" and am much happier with it. Unfortunately that book has no phonetic spelling at all, but there's a lot more material in that book and the presentation is excellent.
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