Practice Makes Perfect: Advanced French Grammar (Practice Makes Perfect)

Advanced French Grammar dives into the the most difficult aspects of French grammar. I think the chapter on the subjunctive and the distinction between "c'est" and "il est" are worth the price of the book.

Here is a list of the chapters in Advanced French Grammar

1. Understanding the verb
2. Compound tenses and agreement of the past participle
3. Use of the past tenses
4. Translating the -ing form into French
5. Relative tenses introduced by que
6. The subjunctive
7. Relative tenses not introduced by que
8. Articles
9. Other determiners
10. Relative pronouns
11. Neutral relative pronouns: translating a different kind of what
12. Determining a noun with prepositions
13. Object pronouns
14. Position of object pronouns
15. Expressing this is and that is: ce, ça, and il

16. Questions
17. Translating for, since, and a few other expressions of time
18. Negative sentences

I've already mentioned that my favorite parts of the book were the sections on the subjunctive and c'est/il est. I especially liked how the author gave a list of "trigger expressions" for the subjunctive. She also gave a list of expressions that do not trigger the subjunctive.

I liked the chapter on the past tenses, but I didn't love it. It seems to explain the imparfait the exact same way several other books and teachers explain it; they say it describes the scenery. And I really don't like this explanation because it's so unclear to me. When I tutor students on the difference between the imparfait and the passé composé, I use the acronyms HIDE and STARS.


Imparfait - HIDE

Habitual Actions (used to + VERB)
Incomplete Actions (was/were + ing form of verb)
Descriptions in the past
Emotions/Feelings (most of the time)

Passé Composé - STARS


Sudden Ocurrence
Time Limit/Complete Action
Action Disrupts Action of Imparfait Verb
Reaction/Result
Series of Distince Instances or Events

The other chapters explain prepositions, pronouns, making questions, negating, etc. I highly recommend this book to any intermediate or advanced French learner.

Brandon Simpson

After getting stuck at an advanced intermediate level of French, this book is exactly what I need. I've even spent a lot of time with native professional tutors who couldn't begin to explain subtleties like which preposition to use with each verb or the mysteries of pronouns (ce qui, tout ce qui, ce, cela - does anyone really know which one to use?) because it's just too instinctive for them. And there are enough examples that I can read and reread them until the rules really sink in.