Reference Grammar of Modern Italian (Paperback)

by Martin Maiden (Author), Cecilia Robustelli (Author), Roger Hawkins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
For the final word on all aspects of Italian grammar, "A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian" is the authority of how the language is spoken and written in Italy and in the rest of the Italian-speaking world. Inside you will find everything you need to know to read and write in Italian confidently. Each grammar element is clearly explained and accompanied by plentiful examples, many paired with their English equivalent. Extensive cross-referencing of topics will help you find what you need quickly and easily. With this comprehensive reference at your side, you'll find yourself reading and writing in Italian with confidence. "A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian" gives you: correct usage in the appropriate situations - formal, colloquial, popular, and familiar; the latest additions to Italian vocabulary, including language dealing with e-mail and the Internet; and examples from Italian newspapers, novels, publications, and other media so you can see exactly how the language is used today. Just some of the topics covered by this authority on Italian grammar are: interrogative structures; uses of verb forms; aspects of sentence structure; negative constructions; conjunctions and discourse markers; word derivation; and forms of address.

Language Notes
Text: English, Italian (translation)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0658004301
• ISBN-13: 978-0658004308
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #718,837 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The last word on Italian grammar in English, April 15, 2001

By A Customer

This is a rigorous grammar text using a fair amount of linguistics lingo (all of which is defined). Both this book and Anna Proudfoot's Modern Italian Grammar (which complements Maiden) should be in the library of any serious student of Italian. If you need more than these two books provide, you'll have to find it written in Italian, not in English. Some of Maiden's book (or a lot) will be over your head, but it's a great reference to grow into.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Grammar Yet Published for Americans, March 30, 2001

By	Jude R. Montarsi (Lock Haven, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is an excellent resource. It covers the essentials and it helps the user to answer the questions: "How do I say..." and "How do I form..." which most American reference texts published in the States do not do--in a way that is systematic and logical. The author, Robert Maiden, is a Professor of Romance Linguistics at Oxford--that says it in a "nut shell!" Whenever I've needed a good English-Italian grammar reference or book, I've always had to rely on the British scholars and publishers. Sorry to say this but the American market is generally saturated with fluff and gloss. This reference book is an excellent alternative to the "fast buck" junk on the market and makes a good companion book to Italiano Vivo, by Giorgio Milesi, published by Thomas Nelson & Sons, LTD, UK. A highly recommend it.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, April 6, 2006

By	TongueTwister (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

I am no novice to grammars. I have been reading them for pleasure in dozens of languages for the past thirty years. When I learned Italian in college I skipped the basic courses and essentially taught myself the grammar, which was easy with prior knowledge of French and Spanish. Although I am fluent in Italian, most of what I know has come from using the language in real life, and there is much that I know intuitively but have never seen described in a grammar, even some excellent short grammars written in Italian.

As in any language, there are many subtleties, non-standard usages and simple matters of idiom that are just not covered in standard grammars, yet constitute matters of everyday usage and are often the essence of sounding natural in a language, rather than "translated". Professors Maiden and Robustelli have written a masterpiece of practical linguistics--I would say one of the best concise grammars I have ever come across in any language! While not truly exhaustive (impossible in a volume this size), they cover an astounding number of those issues that, as an advanced speaker, I knew intuitively but never knew the rule for. Moreover, they repeatedly offer insight into shades of connotation and regional differences. I had no trouble at all finding the sections relating to several high-level questions of mine, using the index. There is a great advantage to reading a grammar in English, rather than Italian, which is that idiomatic differences and similarities between the languages can be highlighted.

I can certainly sympathize with the frustrations of the college student trying to use this as a learner's grammar. The organization is a little bit idiosyncratic, but I think this is a function of its comprehensiveness. Many subsections just don't lend themselves to fitting neatly into an intuitive traditional grammatical structure. But in reality the conceptual organization of the chapters is brilliant and obviously reflects a lot of thought and deep understanding. I found the weakest section to be perhaps that on prepositions, but this is probably true of any grammar because of the idiomatic complexity of prepositional expressions, rendering them more a matter of semantic (lexical) study than strictly grammatical.

Remember, this is a REFERENCE grammar. If you are new to the language and try to read this from cover to cover, your head will swim. However, regardless of your level, if you are serious about Italian, you will never regret owning this text. I am eternally grateful to the authors for making it available.