The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice (UItimate Review & Reference Series) [Paperback]

Ronni Gordon (Author), David Stillman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071416730 | ISBN-13: 978-0071416733 | Publication Date: December 12, 2005 | Edition: 1

Learn verb skills and communicate confidently in a new language

Building on the authors’ bestselling The Ultimate Review and Practice series, this book is your best bet to mastering the often tricky verb forms and key sentence structures of the Spanish language. The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice offers a step-by-step program for experienced beginners through advanced learners to understand how different verb forms work and use that knowledge to build increasingly sophisticated sentences in Spanish. No other book on the market combines guidance and practice in verb formation and usage with tips on the 18 most commonly used sentence models.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Master the essential building blocks of Spanish-language fluency with facilidad

The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice offers you an exciting new way to gain the confidence and skills you need to take the next big step on the road to Spanish fluency. More than just another Spanish verb guide, it provides you with a concise review of verb forms and extensive practice in tense usage. You are then encouraged to apply your knowledge of verb forms to sentence construction.

As you work through a series of increasingly more demanding exercises, you'll quickly build your mastery of the Spanish sentence--from simple subject-plus-verb sentences, to more sophisticated ones, including conditional and compound sentences. Also, by continually comparing and contrasting Spanish and English verb tenses and sentence structures, the authors further demystify the conventions of Spanish sentence construction.

The ideal resource for experienced beginners through advanced learners of Spanish, The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice gives you:

• Numerous examples of how Spanish verbs and sentence structures work in everyday language
• Exercises in a variety of formats, including sentence completion, sentence building, dialogue writing, translation, verb-form replacement, and more
• Hundreds of verbs listed in both structural and semantic groupings
• Up-to-the-minute coverage of contemporary Spanish, including computer and technology verbs
• Dozens of clear, concise, at-a-glance charts and tables

About the Author

Ronni L. Gordon, Ph.D., is an education consultant specializing in curriculum development in foreign languages, literature, and history. David M. Stillman, Ph.D., teaches Spanish, French, Italian, and Hebrew at The College of New Jersey.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071416730
• ISBN-13: 978-0071416733
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Gordon-Stillman Spanish language learning tool, January 19, 2006

By 

ATS, Management Consultant (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice (UItimate Review & Reference Series) (Paperback)

I want to be the first to review this extraordinary book as I am already a happy (and frequent) user of The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice: Mastering Spanish Grammar for Confident Communication, a book by the same authors Gordon and Stillman that made it possible for me to learn Spanish to speak, read and write for business. I reviewed that book 12-26-99, "Spanish Learning Made Easy". I am now using The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice: Mastering Verbs and Sentence Building for Confident Communication to further my study of Spanish. I find the book particularly helpful for many reasons. First, the comprehensive number of verbs and the organization of verb lists in structural and semantic groupings provides an easy way to expand my vocabulary and a good reference tool. Second, the grammar explanations of verbs and tenses are extremely clear. Third, each of the 15 chapters presents one or more tenses or type of verb, followed by a section called Building Sentences in which the verbs and tenses studied are expanded into meaningful sentences. Fourth, the book has loads of exercises of all types, and much useful current vocabulary, such as computer and technology verbs. Fifth, I like the language boxes that give interesting information about the Spanish language. Sixth, because the chapters can be used in any order, I can personalize my Spanish language education and focus on key areas for me in a quick and efficient manner. Seventh, the book is so well-organized and user-friendly that I can work through a tense or irregular verb on a short flight. This smart and unique book was written for advanced beginning through advanced learners of Spanish, and I have already recommended it to friends and business associates who are at different levels. The authors' method really works for me as I am confidently and successfully using Spanish in my professional and personal lives.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate brand is the gold standard of language teaching books!, March 21, 2006

By 

M.R.T. "Bobby" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice (UItimate Review & Reference Series) (Paperback)

I have been using The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice: Mastering Spanish Grammar for Confident Communication as a review and reference book. It has seen me through Spanish language exams, travel to Spanish-speaking countries, business meetings where I had to speak Spanish, and even social situations. I read Spanish language newspapers and magazines and even some history and literature and watch Mexican telenovelas with a high level of comprehension.

I've been seeking a good follow-up review text and at last I found it: The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice: Mastering Verbs and Sentence Building for Confident Communication. This amazing book is taking me through verb forms in all the tenses. The explanations are crystal clear and there are loads of exercises for practice. I love the Building Sentences section in each chapter because from the simple conjugated verb I learn how to build sentences by adding the verb + infinitive construction, or create sentences with double object pronouns; I learn how to express probability, how to focus on a certain element in the sentence, etc. I can say all the things I've wanted to say about "if something happens" or "if something were to happen" or "if something had happened" (possible conditions or contrary-to-fact conditions).

I like the presentation of Spanish grammar contrasted with English grammar. I'm a native English speaker but never really thought about English grammar until I used The Ultimate books. I find this very helpful, and I'm learning a lot about English, too!

Spanish has a lot of tenses and a lot of irregular verbs. The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice is helping me to learn and practice them in context. I really like that the book allows me to go out of order which means if I need more practice on the present subjunctive (which I do!), I can jump right to Chapter 11. This book makes learning Spanish so logical and even enjoyable.

I think the Language Boxes are great because I'm learning interesting facts about Spanish. I didn't know that about 4,000 Spanish words, such as ojalá, el café, el alcohol, and hasta, were borrowed from Arabic. I am also learning many words that Spanish borrows from English to describe computer terms, such as crashear, linkear, and cliquear.

The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice is the gold standard of language teaching books.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overall Review, October 28, 2007

By 

Michael Patrón (San Ramon, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice (UItimate Review & Reference Series) (Paperback)

I began reading this book and doing the exercises after a very basic beginner's class which sparked my interest in learning the language more thoroughly. While I would say this book can be a stretch for beginning students of Spanish, it's perfect for intermediate and advanced learners. I read this book two years ago and once I had completed it, I took a placement exam for the University of Costa Rica's "Spanish for foreigners" class. I was able to qualify for the advanced level! Since then I have purchased more than sixty books which cover all aspects of the Spanish language. This book is, by far, the one I consider most useful and still use as a review. The explanations of the grammar are straightforward and easy to understand (even the dreaded subjunctive!) There are plenty of very useful exercises with an answer-key in the back of the book. Chapters often build on previous information and is best to work through this book sequentially. I can't say enough good things about this book!