sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4767 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish
| Message 1 of 6 09 June 2012 at 9:41pm | IP Logged |
I have more time now that school is on vacation and I would like to do a review of basic Spanish grammar. I'm in the process of finishing the last half of Assimil Spanish with Ease.
I have two grammar books on hand, and I like both of them:
_Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish_
and
_Practical Spanish Grammar_ by Marcial Prado
MMKtS is a book which approaches grammar from the standpoint of building up sentences from words. Many see a connection between her book and the way that Michel Thomas teaches Spanish.
PSG by Prado seems to be a very traditional Spanish textbook covering a year of college Spanish. It is described as a programmed textbook/workbook; it's method is very grammar/translation. What separates it from other "textbooks" is that it has all the answers to all the exercises.
I like both books, but probably don't have time (or need) to do both.
Which would you pick? Is there something else you might use?
Edited by sfuqua on 09 June 2012 at 9:51pm
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Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4670 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali
| Message 2 of 6 09 June 2012 at 10:20pm | IP Logged |
Between the two you mentioned, I'd go for the one by Marcial Prado, but
This one is the best:
New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish
John Butt, Carmen Benjamin
http://www.amazon.com/New-Reference-Grammar-Modern-Spanish/d p/1444137697/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339273163&sr=1- 1&keywords=New+Reference+Grammar+of+Modern+Spanish
Edited by Medulin on 09 June 2012 at 10:21pm
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tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5455 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 3 of 6 09 June 2012 at 11:32pm | IP Logged |
Butt and Benjamin is an excellent grammar (and probably the best Spanish grammar written in English), but be
aware that it is aimed at advanced users.
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sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4767 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish
| Message 4 of 6 10 June 2012 at 8:07am | IP Logged |
Thanks for the advice. I will start on Prado, and I ordered a copy of Butt and Benjamin.
steve
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maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5221 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu
| Message 5 of 6 10 June 2012 at 5:53pm | IP Logged |
I have Butt and Benjamin (for advanced grammar and it is great on the differences between various flavours of Spanish) but as a newcomer to Spanish I prefer "A Spanish learning grammar" - by Pilar Munoz and Mike Thacker: the progress is rapid but it is/was the recommended book for Oxford University students who hadn't studied Spanish before.
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Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5785 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German
| Message 6 of 6 10 June 2012 at 11:28pm | IP Logged |
Have you tried "Students Basic Grammar of Spanish"?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Students-Basic-Grammar-Spanish-Book/ dp/8484436357 (remove space
before "dp" to use the link).
Edited by Random review on 10 June 2012 at 11:29pm
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