Customer Reviews

A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have over 20 years experience as a college teacher of Spanish and as a federally certified Spanish court interpreter and, in my opinion, this volume is without equal among Spanish grammars. What you find here is not available anywhere else: an empirical, scholarly presentation of Spanish as it is spoken throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

This is not an intermediate grammar as some reviewers have asserted. It is not a repetition of conventional grammar rules as they have been handed down for generations. There are much simpler books that explain the use of the subjunctive, the mechanics of noun-adjective agreement, verb conjugation etc.

Rather, this book describes how literate people in different countries (or regions of countries) use the language in real life. It tells you to what extent they respect the traditional academic rules of grammar, and to what extent they break them and change them. In other words, it tells you what the living rules of the language are in distinct places.

All of this is supported by copious citations from the writings of novelists, scholars, journalists, etc. making it an eminently readable book. It's very easy to pick it up to search for the answer to a specific question and end up reading for an hour because it contains so much fascinating information.

In short, it is a superb and eminently useful piece of scholarship, which belongs on the shelf of any serious student of the language.

This is the best guide by far that I've seen to Spanish grammar. It has everything in it, covering even obscure topics that other books ignore, such as the future subjunctive and the neuter ello.

What makes the book particularly interesting is that it discusses Spanish as it is actually written and spoken, not just how the grammarians would have it. And it's quite up to date, also, discussing, for example, how Spanish makes plurals of the numerous English words that have entered the vocabulary in recent years.

What is also interesting is that the book explains how the language is used in different countries. It's the first book I've seen that truly gives a feel for the differences between Spanish Castilian and Latin American Spanish (and the differences in the different varieties of Latin American Spanish). The book supports its explanations with numerous examples taken from contemporary writing throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

This book is truly an astounding resource, well worth the price.

As a Spanish major in college, I didn't feel like buying any more grammar books to read since they got so damn expensive and I hardly needed to use them (they were kinda ineffective). But, little did I know would I be making an investment of a lifetime with 'A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish'. I sat down one night and, hestitantly, I opened the book...hours later, I was still reading it. I am very much into detail, and man, this book has got details! I love it now and I will never use another grammar reference guide again. So if you want to dissect the Spanish language, I throw my support to this book.

I would classify myself as an intermediate Spanish student. But this book is aimed at those at a higher level or knowledge of Spanish. But even as an intermediate student, I found this book frustrating because of its layout. I wanted to learn more about the Impersonal "Se" and I found myself reading from cross reference to cross reference. Frustrating.

If you are interested in the fine details of Spanish (and I like grammar), then this is the book for you. But if you are still acquiring the language, may I recommend "Manuel De Gramatica: Grammar Reference for Students" by Eleanor Dozier and Zulma Iguina. I hope this helps others.

Kevin

An amazingly detailed book designed to answer any question you have regarding the structure of the Spanish language, be it Castillian or Latinoamerican. Each chapter has example after example devoted to the nuances of every aspect of speech or writing you could possibly encounter.

My only caveat - you can't possibly "read" the thing. It's better utilized as a reference book. It's the place you'll go when all your slimmer volumes have you stumped.

My approach is to carry around "Buscalo" (Clarkson, Campos) which tells me - as an intermediate learner - what I need to know in 219 cleanly-spaced pages instead of 572 densely-packed ones. I've always got this Butt/Benjamin work on the shelf as a "just in case" backup tool.

This is an extremely comprehensive reference; I haven't yet come up a with a grammar question that it doesn't answer. However, I do want to warn prospective buyers that this book is a reference, not a textbook. The information is densely packed, and assumes that you are familiar with grammar terms in English. If you don't know the difference between a gerund and a participle, or what a "non-restrictive relative clause" is, finding what you need from this book will be difficult.

Actually, having just returned from Spain, I think this book is better than most of the grammar books from Spain as well. Spanish grammar books are hobbled by a weird cultural issue: the "official" grammar is defined by the Spanish academy. However, many (that is, most) writers and publications ignore the Academy prescriptions and proscriptions.

This grammar book does not report on what the Academy suggests. Instead it tells you what is actually used and expected by both Spaniards and Latin Americans. As a result, you get the straight scoop. [You want an example? Take the word solo. The Spanish grammar I just bought says that solo should have an accent on the first o only when necessary to distinguish its adjectival meaning from its adverbial meaning. However, every Spanish dictionary lists the adverb solo with an accent. Who's right? I finally checked Butt & Benjamin and there was the explanation: despite the Academy's suggestion of using the accent only when needed to disambiguate the two meanings, most Spanish speakers have retained the accent on the first o when it's used as an adverb. Clear, correct, and to the point.]

If you're a serious student of Spanish, this book is a must-buy.

this is one of the best books I've ever seen about ANYTHING, never mind Spanish. I actually got it while I was still a beginner (as opposed to an "intermediate beginner" now?) and it was like having the ark of the covenant opened before my eyes. It gives a brilliant, clear overview of the language without sparing any of the subtle nuances. It's very readable, even entertaining, drawing from a broad variety of literary and journalistic sources for examples. Especially useful is the section on "pronominal" verbs, which are usually simplistically called "reflexive" in other books, leading to a tremendous amount of confusion as soon as one sees how ubiquitous they are in Spanish.

here's a hot tip-- the Oxford Spanish Grammar book is actually a slim, highly condensed version of this book by one of the same authors. an even hotter tip-- the Oxford Spanish Dictionary and Grammar is a small volume that combines the above grammar book with a small dictionary- extremely handy and light!

This is THE BEST spanish learning tool I own. Too dense sit and read, it's greatest strength is an extensive index which allows you to look up just about anything you run across and don't understand. Though not written for beginners, anybody with a grounding in Spanish should be able to look up phrases, words, grammar, etc. and find a clear explanation.

The book is so dense, though, that it can be frustrating to sift through it to find the paged referenced in the dictionary. I solved this by taking the time to tape thumb tabs at the beginning of each of the 39 chapters. Well worth the time.

I concur with all the positive things that others have written here regarding this book. It truly is the definitive resource of its kind, la crema y nata as they say in Spanish. Simply put, your search for the answer to a Spanish grammatical question may not begin here, but it will end here.

The copious examples culled from various written sources are outstanding. If you're reading the original text of, say, a novel by Garcia Marquez or Vargas Llosa, and you come across a bit of sentence structure that is unfamiliar, the chances are pretty good that you'll find that very sentence among the examples in this reference book. In other words, you might get not only an explanation of the grammar principle that's confusing you, but also an English translation of the passage you're reading.

In addition, the book's use of numbers to subdivide chapters makes looking up things a pleasure. This volume is remarkably user-friendly for its size, scope and subject matter. As one reviewer wrote, you really can consult this book as a reference and end up reading entire chapters.

So in summary, add my voice to the chorus of praise for "A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish." Buy it used if you can, but it's still a bargain even at the list price.