1001 Pitfalls in Spanish [Paperback]

Marion P. Holt (Author), Julianne Dueber (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0812096509 | ISBN-13: 978-0812096507 | Publication Date: January 1, 1997 | Edition: 3

Here's the perfect book to help students of Spanish overcome those troublesome details of vocabulary, nuances of meaning, grammar, usage and style.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish

From the Inside Flap

(back cover)
This very useful classroom supplement reviews the most common errors that students make in speaking and writing Spanish. YouÂ'll learn to master tricky vocabulary, idioms, technical terms, and other details in Spanish grammar and usage that differ markedly from English. The new fourth edition features an attractive new layout and offers more examples than ever before, as well as exercises and a guide to writing e-mails and text messages.



--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; 3 edition (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812096509
• ISBN-13: 978-0812096507
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #706,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

101 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good reference, requires basic knowledge of Spanish, January 30, 2000

By 

NOBUKI SUGITA - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1001 Pitfalls in Spanish (Paperback)

This is a very good book although the reader has to have a basic knowledge of Spanish, both in vocabulary and grammatical structures. This is because it is not a textbook but a reference as you can see from the construction of the book. First the parts of speech in Spanish are explained in alphabetical order, beginning from adjectives up to verbs. Then the sentence structure and special topics such as measurements and pronunciation are dealt with. It is not intended to be read from cover to cover, page by page, although it is still highly recommended to read it through at least once because, someday, you would want to make sure whether you should use imperfect or preterite in a particular situation and this book will sure come in handy. The topics are selected meticulously and explained in a structured and easy to understand way with abundant examples. If you are a learner who has a basic knowledge of Spanish this book will be useful and you will find yourself consulting it from time to time. But if you are a beginning learner who still has some grammatical issues to study you should wait buying it until you have become familiar with the language.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book to refine your knowledge, June 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: 1001 Pitfalls in Spanish (Paperback)

I've taken a Spanish immersion program in Costa Rica and received this book as a gift from the school. It's very useful if you already know some Spanish and want to check out specific issues that are confusing or simple like to improve your knowledge. Great reference book!

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars May be a good reference for teachers, but not for students, February 6, 2002

By 

Jan Dahlin Geiger "Author of 'Get Your Assets... (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 1001 Pitfalls in Spanish (Paperback)

It seems to me that the authors' objective here was to cram in the 1001 examples in as few pages as possible. Yes, it is all there, but for me there are way too few examples and not nearly enough explanation.

I have found that the books that provide little quizzes where I get to apply what I just learned, then find the correct answers in the book, help me to learn much faster, much easier, and in a much more enjoyable way.

Perhaps if you are a teacher and already know 80% of these pitfalls, you will appreciate having all this information, neatly organized for a quick review. But if you are a student like me, you will probably find this pretty boring and very, very difficult to remember.

I would recommend to you "The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice" by Gordon and Stillman or "Advanced Spanish Grammar" by Prado if you want comprehensive workbooks on grammar pitfalls. Both are loaded with examples and exercises you can do.

If you want to improve your Spanish and don't need one book that covers it all, I'd highly recommend both workbooks by Dorothy Richmond, "Spanish Verb Tenses" and "Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions." These both are interesting, fun, and presented with so many examples and practice exercises that you can really learn the material and REMEMBER it! I can't begin to say enough good things about these two workbooks.