Side-By-Side Spanish and English Grammar

Rating:
Summary: great review of basic english & spanish grammar
Review: i found the book to be helpful for me and my students--many who despite being in the gifted strand, still don't grasp all grammar. for me it reminded me of what i had learned long ago (i am 50) and reinforced the grammar in the wonderful side-by-side way the book is written. great for busy people who need to know a specific concept NOW so they can apply it.

Rating:
Summary: great review of basic english & spanish grammar
Review: i found the book to be helpful for me and my students--many who despite being in the gifted strand, still don't grasp all grammar. for me it reminded me of what i had learned long ago (i am 50) and reinforced the grammar in the wonderful side-by-side way the book is written. great for busy people who need to know a specific concept NOW so they can apply it.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely useful
Review: I have about a dozen Spanish books including courses and grammars at various levels, and several audio type courses, and this is probably the most learning tool/book I have. The book's method of putting the English and Spanish side by side is very helpful, but the best thing is the explanation of all the tenses, which I don't always keep in my head. For example, many people aren't going to remember what the pluperfect past progressive tense is, or the imperfect subjunctive, and so on, and this book was great to remind me about those and what the corresponding Spanish forms are.

The book does this for all the different basic parts of speech: verbs, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, interjections, conjunctions, and so on. The tables and sections don't always align exactly on the facing pages, since there aren't always exact correspondences between the two languages, but I didn't mind that too much. For example, although technically English has the subjunctive tense, it's really almost a vestigial construction, but in Spanish there is a complete system of marking the subjunctive which is still very active, and the rules, although fairly consistent, can get pretty detailed. Spanish also has a second preterite tense that English doesn't have, the co-preterite or preterite anterior, as it's called in Spanish, and the two aren't interchangeable, so you need to know how they work and what the differences are.

So overall, an excellent book and probably the most helpful Spanish book I have, although it's not intended to be an exhaustive grammar. Some people might find the explanations a little technical, and I note one or two people here commented on that, but again, I didn't mind that too much. This book is a great value considering it really doesn't cost that much.

I only have one other book that is similar to this one, which is Spanish Verb Tenses, by Dorothy Devney Richmond. It is only on the verbal system and has less technical descriptions of the verbs than this book, which might be better for some people. The book also has a workbook section with exercises which some people might find helpful. It also includes appendices of verb tables of regular and irregular verbs; the preterite, future, and conditional conjugations; tables for the present and imperfect subjunctive moods; and a separate table for the modal auxiliary haber.

Finally, there is a Spanish to English and English to Spanish glossary with definitions of several hundred verbs, and a long list of verbs that take a preposition. This book is also very reasonably priced and I can recommend it too.

Rating:
Summary: Good concept, needs further development.
Review: I was rather disappointed in some aspects of this book. The pages are divided into columns, with an explanation of the Spanish application of a concept in one column and the explanation of the corresponding English concept in the other. Unfortunately, the columns do not align well, and the English and Spanish examples of the concepts do not align. I was surprised at how difficult this made reading the book. I also found the explanations overly technical and I had difficulty comprehending the linguistic terms (but perhaps this is my limitation, not the books.) I would recommend Spanish Verbs and Essentials of Grammar by Ina Ramboz or the Practice Makes Perfect series as better alternatives.

Rating:
Summary: Good concept, needs further development.
Review: I was rather disappointed in some aspects of this book. The pages are divided into columns, with an explanation of the Spanish application of a concept in one column and the explanation of the corresponding English concept in the other. Unfortunately, the columns do not align well, and the English and Spanish examples of the concepts do not align. I was surprised at how difficult this made reading the book. I also found the explanations overly technical and I had difficulty comprehending the linguistic terms (but perhaps this is my limitation, not the books.) I would recommend Spanish Verbs and Essentials of Grammar by Ina Ramboz or the Practice Makes Perfect series as better alternatives.

Rating:
Summary: Most helpful grammar I have encountered
Review: If you know some Spanish, but really want some concise help to improve, this is it! And if you are a teacher of Spanish-speaking students who need help with English grammar, this is double it!!

Rating:
Summary: This book is great!
Review: One of the hardest parts to learning a new language is learning the grammar of spoken language. We aquired English, not learned it. We know what makes sense, and what doesn't without fully understanding the rules that govern how we speak. This is why our spoken language makes sense, but we can't always explain why or what about it makes it work. Even well trained writers don't need to fully understand all of the rules of the spoken language. This is what makes this book very helpful - it uses what all native English speakers already know and understand to explain the rules of Spanish. Through English examples, the book clearly demonstrates how Spanish works. Read the book and your Spainish will improve, as well as your English!