Customer Reviews

French Reference Grammar

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Indexed in both French and English, this reference work is for all levels of students, including self-learners, who either need to or wish to review constantly the essential French grammar structures, with examples, details, exceptions, and many tables, which organize and present each grammatical element. It uses a comparative approach so that the English speaker can relate quickly to the nuances of the french grammar being presented. It is the only textbook being used in the French to English translation class at Sacramento State University, Sacramento.

This is easily the best organized grammar reference among the five I have collected over the years. I guess I keep purchasing grammar books in the hope that one will actually make sense of the subject. In sum, I find I have two other French grammar books in English (Berlitz French Grammar and "The Ultimate French Review & Practice") plus two more texts in French.

The French grammars (Sorbonne, McGraw Hill) are fine, but not if you are in a hurry for an answer.

This book, French Reference Grammar, is thick and comprehensive, with a superb index. It also makes good use of tabular presentations.

If you have a specific problem in mind, you can find the answer fastest in the book. But once you locate the explanation you may find it pretty hard to understand. The text is so utterly codified, such an exercise in verbal algebra, that it is often difficult to follow.

I sometimes wonder why these books do not diagram sentences. Grammar is a machine. Verbal descriptions of machines are often gibberish. A picture might work better.

The most helpful French grammar book in English, in my experience, is "The Ultimate..." perhaps because it does such a good job of integrating examples from everyday speech with formal grammatical rules. But it wouldn't hurt to pick up both of these books.

Berlitz's French Grammar is more compact and very good, full of short cuts and keyword hints, but it uses a few terms peculiar to the Berlitz teaching method, and the organization is not at all clear.

This reference sets an example for logical organization.

This is an excellent guide to French grammar organized very much like a style guide. For example, conjunctions with the indicative are covered under point 179. Point 180 covers french usages of the English equivalent "after" (e.g., apres and apres que), point 181 covers French usages of the English equivalent "as" (e.g., que, comme, aussi) and so on. The structure makes reference a breeze, as opposed to flipping through grammar texts for each grammar point.

The book assumes that you already have a fair understanding of grammar and structure and only need clarification and/or fine tuning - this is not a text book for beginning French. Each entry has a brief but reasonably thorough explanation and several examples. There is an extensive index, a section of problem words/phrases, several exercises and an answer key.

I am taking a course in French and have found this book extremely useful, even for a beginning student like me. The book is organized to be used as a grammar REFERENCE book. If you need clarification on French possessive adjectives, you will go to that section. If you need clarification on possessive pronouns, you will flip to that page. This book is NOT organized like a course material; you do not advance from easy to difficult grammatical constructions as you progress through the book. Thus, if you are thinking about buying a French grammar COURSE book, this is not the book to buy.

The book assumes that the reader already possesses sophisticated knowledge of grammatical terminologies. Explanations are given in English but they can be quite confusing if you do not understand English grammar construction and terminologies in the first place. This book is definitely not for an English-speaker who has a poor grasp of English grammar. I would suggest the "Berlitz French Grammar Handbook" instead.

The only quibble that I have regarding "French Grammar: A Complete Reference Guide" is the paper stock that McGraw-Hill used. The paper feels rough and cheap to the hand and ink from felt-tipped pens will instantly bleed on the pages.

This book is a true masterpiece of clarity. I recommend this book for anyone struggling to learn and master the intricacies of the french language. The explanations will quickly clear up any ambiguities you may have and set you on the path to fluency. As an adjunt, I suggest you take a look at "side by side, english and french grammar" also available here at amazon. Learning french is hard work. remember, the best way to increase fluency is to practice, and practice more! Speak as much as you can, and most importantly...READ! Reading is the ONLY way to build vocabulary and aids you greatly in becoming familiar with language patterns.

This is a review of French Grammar: A Complete Reference Guide, 2nd edition, by Daniel Calvez. McGraw-Hill, 2005. ISBN 007144498X.

As the title indicates, this book is a reference grammar. It's a great book to have when you need to know how to say something or refresh your memory about the particular placement of "que" in a "ne . . . que" phrase, because the material is very logically arranged. Between the index and the very thorough table of contents, if your question is answered somewhere in the book, you can find it. This book is not, however, a great thing to have if you know little or no French and want to teach yourself more of the language. In that case, buy a basic French course, not this book. True, it has a few exercises in the back, but they're best used selectively to reinforce a grammar concept you know you're weak on. The book has way too much information in it for someone to work straight through.

A note on the difference between the first and second editions: the second edition's text does not appear to have been reset from the first edition. The exercises in the back appear after the index and in a slightly different typeface. The inference I draw is that McGraw-Hill wanted to add exercises for the second edition, but didn't want to reset the entire book. They accordingly decided to stick the exercises in after the index, which is illogical, but it saved them from repaginating. It seems, then, that the only difference between the first and second editions is the addition of the exercises.

The grammar itself is clearly written, it's well-organized, and as the title indicates, it seems to be very complete. I haven't had a question yet it hasn't answered. In fact, I generally spend more time with the book than I intend: after I find the answer to whatever question I have, I begin browsing through the grammar. As previous reviewers have noted, however, make sure you know your grammatical terminology. The publisher's blurb is not quite accurate in claiming that the book defines all grammatical terms clearly: it does define them, but not very clearly. Don't come to this book to find out what a relative pronoun is. If you know what it is in English, then you'll find out how it's done in French. But if you don't know what it is at all, this book won't help you much.

If you're an intermediate or above French student, this book should be very helpful. But know your grammatical terminology.

This is a pure reference book: if you need to know the rules without anyone annoyingly hand-holding you with lots of fluff, then this is it. An excellent book for those who can ramp up fast; or who already have gone through the appetizer of the hand-holding books, and now need to get to the meat.

Since I haven't been in high school for over a year I've been wanting something to help me to refresh everything that I had learned. After hours of countless searching etc, I came across this book. I read some of the reviews on another site, and read the ones here and though I'd give it a try. It came rather quickly, and I was able to start 'studying' and refreshing everything. I was amazed, it's all completely well organized and it even focuses on the Subjunctive in a relatively good way. Although, I wish that it covered everything though in further detail. It gives good examples, but if you're someone like me, you'd love to see a specific grammar point used in detail. I'd recommend it.

I had Dr. Calvez for advanced French grammar at Clemson University. He is a great professor and his text lives up to its title as "A Complete Handbook of the French Language."

This is a unique book of French grammar that covers a wide range of topics that are indispensable for a clear understanding of the French language. Salient features of French grammar are carefully explained. Topics covered include adjectives, articles, adverbs, conjunctions, nouns, pronouns, prepositions and verbs as well as the agreements of adjectives and the uses of tenses, among other things. Various examples illustrate and solidify the new concepts that you will learn as well as providing practical and helpful hints.

At the end of the book are various exercises which the reader is advised to attempt as they provide valuable practice in handling grammatical challenges.

This is an excellent grammar reference book that is useful for quick convenient learning which I would recommend to anyone studying French as well as those who are postgraduates of the language