Spanish Grammar Pack: A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (Volume 2)

After buying a more than a few poorly written Eng-Spanish grammar books - dogs - I found this one. Not perfect, but very very good. I highly recommend it.The good -Goes into details that my teachers couldn't help me with. Covers the differences without being dogmatic to language standards bodies. (trying to mandate usage is a good way to kill a language - take French - not adopting foreign words will kill off the language - people choose living languages over dead ones. ) They explain the official rules - but include the real world usage with good explanation of regional differences.I had read sections on the 'personal a' in several other grammar books - this one is the only one that covered it well.The bad -To much cross referencing within the text - that is what indexes are for.Similar to many books, they don't stick to the literal translations enough - learning the literal is the key to thinking in a different language - Thinking in the language is the key to ability to use it. For example - people learn that 'my name is' is 'me llamo'' - when it just isn't the case (It actually means 'I'm called') and lets the student miss the chance to learn. Learning wrong and having to relearn is always bad. To their credit, they often have the literal where the difference is getting large.Could probably use more counter examples - for instance - when one does not use the 'personal a' as well as when to use it.I find that etymology and the history of words helps - perhaps the next edition might have even more.,.,.To sum it up, I'm really glad I found this book - I was beginning to think there wasn't any such book available. Now if I could only find a Eng/Spanish - Spanish/Eng dictionary with the etymology of the words, I would be content. (I find that etymology and the history of words helps retention - and there is no end to shared etymology between English and Spanish words. )

I am reading this grammar reference currently. What sets it apart from all others is the absurdly powerful insight offered. Imagine a university lecturer that has the knack to explain exactly those fine details that are needed to fully grasp the nuances of a complex subject eloquently. This is exactly what you get with "A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish". By means of example, some professors stand at the board and mumble. Others go through the motions and inject a joke here and there to avoid nodding heads. Others may simply weave a good yarn and are engaging. There are an exceptional few (maybe 1 in 200) that understand student needs and have the intellect to convey absurdly powerful insight in a way that burns images into student minds that they cannot forget. This book was written by authors that fall in that group. Imagine a great teacher like that who transcribed their knowledge into book form (which may be even harder to accomplish than direct classroom teaching magic). I had a physics professor in undergraduate that had 50 minutes to give a lecture. Mid 40's, no notes, no pauses, no awkward moments. He stood at board and cleanly derived the speed of light directly from Maxwell's underlying equations in a way that I may never forget. Drew a standing ovation from the entire lecture hall for his effort and mastery. Inspiring doesn't do justice to that kind of effort. Butt and Benjamin belong to this group applied to language learning. Enjoy.

I've been a student of the Spanish language since 1960, lived in Miami for 30 years, in Spain for nearly 20 years. Now, in retirement, I've been teaching Spanish for the past 7 years. In all of those years, I've seen many a grammar book, but there is none that is the equal of the a New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish by John Butt & Carmen Benjamin.I didn't develop real fluency in Spanish, until I moved to Spain, and one of the first things I did was to order this book. Without it, I would never have achieved the fluency that I have now. I am often taken to be a native speaker, in part because of the accent I developed living in Miami, but, primarily, it's because of my command of the language made possible by my having used this book to master the grammar.It's not your typical grammar, meant to be taken chapter by chapter. Rather, it's more like a cookbook of the Spanish language, with chapters devoted to specific grammatical and syntactical issues (and with adequate examples). No matter what aspect of the language you want to now about, this book covers it. If it doesn't cover it, you don't need to know it.Seriously, it is without equal in the category of Spanish grammar books and is the finest, most accurate and up-to-date grammar book I've ever seen. I have now purchased this book for the 4th time, because, each time it's updated, it just gets better (I would never have believed that possible from the 1st edition).I highly recommend this book, new or used, with a cover, without a cover. You will NEVER find a better grammar book.If you want to learn Spanish for regular communications, or improve your Spanish, or you want to be a Spanish teacher of a certified translator/interpreter, this is the book for you.

This is an excellent resource for Spanish language students.. It is laid out into numbered sections and by using the index, you can easily find whatever specific word usage, grammar issue, or question you need to have clarified. The writing is clear and and understandable; the different linguistic forms that the same word, phrase, or grammar issue takes, are given for various Spanish speaking areas/countries around the world. I looked at many books in English on Spanish grammar and consider this the best.

Set book for OU upper level Spanish. It is a 'reference' book but in fact i have read and studied a couple of chapters in detail and found it quite 'readable'. Useful info on what is official grammar and what is used more colloquially and useful explanations on Latin American differences. I read my more basic grammar book first and then went to this for more information. Take a deep breath, read carefully and go slowly. It is not for beginners and you do need some understanding of grammatical terms.

It is definitely a great help for anyone learning Spanish, quite detailed compared to other study books, very up to date with the language usage. The only - but big - problem is the carelessness with which Routledge published this book. First of all, the inner margins are far too narrow, which makes reading difficult (in normal books they should be at least twice as wide as the outer margins). Secondly, a book of this type - something to be used frequently - cannot be a poor quality item with a soft cover and pages glued together. Whoever designed this book, they certainly lack imagination. Yes, I know they also have a hardback version at a price around 100 pounds, which is probably a hundred times its production costs. Again, whoever decided that price, must be simply insane.

This book is very good for advanced students that already know the basic grammar, but goes into far too much detail to use for beginners okr even intermediates. My advice would be only get this if you already have a strong foundation of the grammar and want to fine tune your knowledge of the language, otherwise it could be very frustrating!

Excellent book for those wanting to advance their Spanish beyond the elementary. Some of the examples are a bit quaint but once you get into the Spanish mind set it makes better sense. I would question some of the Spanish translations into English but on the whole it is a very in depth look at the construction of the language.

Bought this book to help study for my exams in second year of uni. I struggled to find a grammar book that was advanced enough to be a good investment purchase, most are tailored towards school learners but I wanted a book that will carry me through university and beyond and this book is great! It is a little cluttered, it has so much information that it can be difficult to just get the main ideas at first. However, it is clear that every aspect of each grammar point is covered, with examples from both Spain and Latin America. It has extensive glossaries and indexes to help you find what you need, but no practice exercises.. Definitely more of a grammar bible than a book to work through chapter by chapter.