Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar [Paperback]

Gilda Nissenberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071422706 | ISBN-13: 978-0071422703 | Publication Date: March 26, 2004 | Edition: 1

Now beginners can master Spanish grammar with the proven Practice Makes Perfect method!

Combining clear presentation, exercises, and a focus on practical conversational skills has proven a winning formula for the Practice Makes Perfect workbook series. Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar builds on the series' success with a similarly interactive approach, embracing all aspects of Spanish grammar that you need to master. This engaging guide offers:

• An extensive grammar review, highlighted by illustrative examples
• Dozens of exercises, including fill-ins, translations, and creative writing
• Time saving thematic vocabulary panels to cut down on dictionary drudgery
• Boxed summaries of key grammar points for focused learning
• Detailed answer keys for progress checks

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The effective way to master Spanish grammar

The only way to build your confidence in a second language is to practice, practice, practice. Featuring the proven Practice Makes Perfect approach, this workbook is an indispensable tool to practice and perfect all aspects of Spanish grammar.

From present tense regular verbs to double object pronouns, this comprehensive guide and workbook covers all aspects of Spanish grammar that learners need to master. Focusing on the practical aspects of Spanish as it's really spoken, each unit of Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar features crystal-clear explanations, numerous realistic examples, and dozens of engaging exercises. Wherever appropriate, explanations include comparisons with English grammatical conventions, making it easier for learners to understand the basic logic behind the rules and to remember correct usage. And the exercises come in a variety of formats--including multiple choice, fill-in sentences and passages, sentence rewrites, and creative writing--designed for every learning style.

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar makes mastering Spanish grammar easy with:

• Clear, down-to-earth, easy-to-follow explanations that make even the most complex principles easy to understand
• Dozens of exercises in formats suited to every learning style
• Time-saving thematic vocabulary panels that cut down on dictionary drudgery
• "Running commentary" answers that help you avoid common mistakes
• A detailed answer key for quick, easy progress checks

Offering a winning formula for getting a handle on Spanish grammar right away, Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to learn to speak Spanish the way the natives do.

Also in the Practice Makes Perfect series:

Spanish Verb Tenses

Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions

About the Author

Gilda Nissenberg, Ph.D., is an experienced educator and faculty trainer. She authors curriculum for intermediate and beginning Spanish high school courses for Miami-Dade Public Schools, the Southern Region College Board (GA), and the New York College Board.

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071422706
• ISBN-13: 978-0071422703
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Thorough but full of mistakes, January 17, 2007

By 

A. Duncan (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar (Paperback)

I have been studying Spanish for 7+ years and used this book as a text book in a college course that focused on the verb conjugations and tenses. We did about 90% of the exercises in the book. It's very thorough with the material that it covers, but the answers in the back are full of so many mistakes that the book almost isn't worth it. It was frustrating for us students to use the book and check our answers only to find mistakes. Eventually our professor stopped using the book.

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT, March 5, 2005

By 

J. S. Orchard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar (Paperback)

This book is amazing. It really does contain ALL aspects of spanish grammar. There are clear grammar explanations, plenty of practice excercises and good vocabulary/idiom lists. Seriously, buy this book.
BTW: don't listen to the above reviewer. My copy is not missing a single page.

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent review for someone with previous knowledge, February 24, 2006

By 

Sterghe (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar (Paperback)

Fantastic series!

What kind of learner am I?
I teach in a university-based adult education program, where many of my students are native Spanish speakers. My high school and college Spanish classes were a distant memory, but when I chose this book and its companions (pronouns and verbs), I DID remember enough to communicate at a basic level. I've found this series excellent for improving my Spanish enough for my students to comment enthusiastically after a relatively short time. I have no instructor, but I learn well from books, and I already knew how to pronounce Spanish words. For someone else in my position, I can't recommend this series highly enough--it's the best I found after extensive searching, library loans, etc.

Getting the most from this product:
I also recommend getting all three books (complete grammar, pronouns, and verbs) as I did. I've found that it's been helpful to work through a few sections in one book, switch to one of the others, and move ahead in similar jags through all three at once. I can tell when to switch by when I start to feel like I'm getting in over my head--I think it would be difficult to learn alone using just one of these.

Another tip: This series is pure grammar, but there's plenty of culture and literature available free online. I've supplemented the books by reading Spanish-language newspapers online (my favorite seems to be the BBC/Latin America), pasting the text into www.freetranslation.com to check my reading as needed. Often, I've translated these in their entirety for practice (the free translation's enough to understand, but not a particularly good translation). I also found a Spanish-speaking penpal by visiting Spanish chatrooms, and write back and forth frequently as a way to practice my written Spanish. These activities have provided the learning richness that simple grammar texts aren't intended to offer.

Who shouldn't use this?
However, if (for example) you know no (or almost no) Spanish now or remember very little vocabulary, this would be a poor choice. It definitely assumes some level of familiarity with the language.