Practice Makes Perfect: Advanced Spanish Grammar

This book is a broad review of Spanish grammar and I think quite thorough. There is no repetition so the book is very succinct. This is a book to be studied, but it is a book that teaches and explains. I find this and the other Practice Makes Perfect Spanish language books an excellent resource.

~I have just finished going through the book and I have found it to be very helpful and it does indeed go over a lot of nitty gritty things as the other reviewer stated. It is assumed here that you are already fairly good with verb tenses and that you have a decent vocabulary in the language, but that's expected... Like the other Spanish Practice Makes Perfect books I've gone through, this book has clear explanations followed by examples and lots of different exercises to help you practice what you've learned.

~I found almost everything to be helpful and organized, with hardy any noticeable errors(including the section at the back that has the answers to the exercises). There is one thing though about the last chapter that I wish would be changed a bit. It is not the content, but the way it is organized. The last chapter lists idiomatic expressions and is followed by exercises. Listed are the spanish expressions in bold and the explanations in english, but it is not in alphabetical order. This probably wouldn't bother everyone who goes over this section but I did like the expressions that were given and found I wanted to search for specific ones to see the meanings in english but had to keep flipping through back and forth and just would have found it more convenient if it was organized alphabetically.

~I'll go over some of the parts I liked the most or found the most useful:
~You'll learn how to phrase things in different ways, how to use conjunctions (practicing writing and reading sentences using words like : in spite of, despite, not only.. but also, however, otherwise, since, so, still/yet, therefore, when, while, for, both... and, either...or/neither...nor, besides, although, though, and, as, etc).

~Also a section on some/any and other determiners like when using algunas vs. unas, cualquier(a), poco/poca/unas cuantas, ambos/los dos, todos los dias/cada dia, ningun/ninguna, etc.
There's a chapter on commands and requests, one on using the passive voice "Juan esta pintando las paredes" [Juan is painting the walls)becomes "Las paredes estan siendo pintadas [por Juan]" (The walls are being painted [by Juan])

~I liked the section on problematic prepositions including : to and toward (which can be "hacia" or "a" or "para" in different sentences) , into ("en", "dentro de"), onto, out of, and off, across, over, through, up and down, over, above, below, under, etc.

~And the last section on idiomatic constructions has useful expressions that if directly translated to English would not completely make sense (eg."llover sobre mojado" refers to adding one problem to another problem but literally translated would be in English like, "To rain over wet".), probably the author chose some of the most popular or most used idioms. (I asked my boyfriend to star which ones were used in Puerto Rico specifically because he's Puerto Rican and I'm mostly interested in expressions that are used there and he told me most of them were used). I'm sure they're popular in other Spanish-speaking countries as well.

Well, this is another excellent, clear, and for the most part very organzied addition to the Practice Makes Perfect series with super useful chapters and exercises that in my opinion any intermediate or advanced student of Spanish should have & go through.

This book on Spanish grammar is very useful. I wish I had it when I was studying Spanish in high school or college. It discusses so many nitty-gritty things that Spanish students struggle with.

When I first got it, I was under the impression that it would explain the past tenses, the subjunctive, etc. It's advanced Spanish grammar, right? When I read the table of contents, I was pleasently surprised to see that it discusses much more valuable information than just that. The following is its table of contents:

1. Object Pronouns and omission of subject pronouns
2. Some/any and other determiners
3. Adjectives
4. Adverbs
5. Commands & requests
6. Modal constructions
7. Impersonal sentences & the passive
8. Relative pronouns & conjunctions
9. Reported speech
10. Problematic prepositions I
11. Problematic prepositions II
12. Idiomatic constructions

Every chapter has very detailed information, along with exercises. My favorite chapters are the two that deal with prepostions. Prepositions are tricky in any language, and Spanish is no exception.

Having said all this, this book is not for absolute beginners. It's better suited to intermediate or advanced students. I majored in Spanish in college and find this book helpful. If I ever tutor students, I will probably refer to this text. So many of my students ask me questions that I don't always have the answer to. I simply "know without knowing." Now I can refer to this book when I need to.

Brandon Simpson