Customer Reviews

Simplified Russian Grammar

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This is a "traditional" language text oriented to the would-be-reader rather than the would-be-speaker. It covers the territory quite well. However, it defers for far too long constructions and vocabulary needed early on by the would-be-speaker, e.g., the numeral and time systems. And although participial adjectives are used early on, their verbal nature is left for Lesson 38. A more serious weakness is that the reader is left to pick up key usage points by osmosis. As one example, there is no discussion at all of word order. As another, the difference between Russian's two words for "why" is nowhere explained; the reader is expected to pick this up by osmosis. Perhaps the most serious weakness of the book is its total inadequacy as a reference grammar. You can't *find* anything -- at least not without a lot of page thumbing and trial and error. The serious student should use this text together with a serious reference grammar, such as Wade's excellent _A Comprehensive Russian Grammar_. I have been pretty hard on this text, but I suppose all reviewers tend to focus on weaknesses. The book really does have many virtues. The explanations are clear, the exercises are good, and the supplemental reading materials included in the book are excellent. Recommended for the student who wants a basic reading knowledge only -- or has time to finish all 41 lessons before ever having actually to use the language.