Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses by Dorothy Richmond
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Book Reviews of Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses
Book Review: Basics and beyond
Summary: 5 Stars
Advancing within my present employment requires Spanish fluency. To achieve bi-lingual certification, I purchased various Spanish software programs. My progress remained slow. I began to believe that I had no hope of ever going beyond understanding a word or two from each sentence, and hoping I could manage something that made sense in reply.
Conjugating verbs was my greatest obstacle until I found this book. I can now reason out which tense to use, and which order to place the verb and subject in a sentence. I wish I had found this book sooner!
The book presents each rule in manageable segments, then gives excercizes to test the reader's understanding. The excercizes are excellent reinforcement. I write the answers on a separate piece of paper rather than in the book. Leaving the pages unmarked allows me to repeat sections that might have given me problems the first time, as well as review excercizes after I've moved on. I also made up my own flashcards and vocabulary lists using the verbs and supplemental vocabulary lists. The cards or lists are reviewed 20 minutes each day, using various mnemonic techniques which I learned elsewhere.
I now have a three prong approach to learning Spanish: the book for understanding grammar, lists and flashcards for expanding and testing vocabulary, software and TV to hear Spanish spoken by native speakers and to record my own voice in reply.
I am finally making progress! This book was worth every penny. IT WORKS!
Book Review: How I am successfully using this book to become more conversational in Spanish?
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is fantastic for teaching Spanish grammar for verb tenses. It goes great with a Spanish verb conjugation book such as 501 Spanish verbs. One of the most interesting things about this book is the vocabulary that you will learn. I was only expecting to learn how to conjugate verbs with this book. But I learned Spanish verb conjugation and so many new vocabulary words that I was able to put to use almost immediately with Spanish speakers. The exercises were also fun to do, and I never felt bored when studying with this book.
Many people say that you should first learn how to speak the language and reach an intermediate conversational level before attempting to study the grammar from a book. I disagree. I have used this book with my favorite Spanish course, Learning Spanish Like Crazy, and I am very happy with the progress that I have made. And I feel that this book has helped me to develop a better understanding of "why" sentences are said the way that they are in Spanish. Learning Spanish Like Crazy is probably the best self-study course for learning authentic Spanish from this side of the Atlantic, but it left me with certain questions about using Spanish verbs. But I have been able to use this book to successfully fill in those gaps and become more conversational. If you are truly serious about speaking fluent Spanish, then you'll want to order this book.
Book Review: May be drill and kill; there are no shortcuts to learning
Summary: 5 Stars
This book reminds me of the way my HS teacher of 4 years taught Spanish. It was "kill and drill" all the way, but it worked and I got a great foundation of the basics (this is 1975 to 1979, mind you), which has allowed me to, in the past 6 mos., begin my studies anew "independientemene," without feeling lost. "Kill and drill" may be an anathman to the current zeitgeist in education, which stresses something called a "wholistic approach," but it is a method that has been tried and true. It's not as sexy as some of the present day modes of educating, but it works.
This book will lay a very, very strong foundation to the beginner, as well as "fill in the blanks" for the intermediate and advanced learner. The author uses a no-nonsense approach, which means she eschews excessive comment, as well as comments that are not germane to learning how to process/use verbs, and she sticks to the basics- Verb ending for all tenses, and proper usage. You can't go wrong with an approach like that. She also does a masterful job with irregular verbs, which is the bug-a-boo for all learners, beginners and advanced alike.
If the companion book on Spanish Grammar is as good as this book, together they will make a "deadly combination;" one that will put the learner well on their way to the proverbial "next level."
Book Review: Know Spanish Verbs Inside and Out!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book on Spanish verb tenses is the best I've ever seen. In fact, it is probably the only book of its kind. I haven't seen any other books like this one, probably because it would be a waste of time for someone else to write a book like this.
The book first explains the present tense in great detail. It explains how the present tense is used in every possibleway. Although, it doesn't explain that the present tense is often used to convey a future action more often than the actual future is.
Richmond's explanation of the past tenses is also very good, but I didn't like how the imperfect and the preterit were explained. What I did like was how the author explains that the irregular preterit conjugations have predictable patterns.
The subjunctive is explained towards the end, which is one of the most difficult things to master in Spanish grammar. I didn't particularly care for the author's explanation of the subjunctive because it seems to be a "regurgitation" of how other books explain it.
All in all, this book is well worth its price. Every Spanish student (and teacher) should have a copy of "Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses."
Brandon Simpson
Book Review: An insanely good book
Summary: 5 Stars
When learning Spanish, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the verb system. There are three moods, 14 separate conjungation sets for each verb, maddening irregularities. Confronting this obstacle stymies many students, and they end up forever talking in the present tense.In the context of that background, you realize what a triumph Dorothy Devney's book is. She systematically works her way across the entire verb complex, explaining each concept in clear, consise text with crisp examples and appropriately constructed exercises. Each chapter builds on the next one. Before you know it, you've covered everything. Not that you're going to be fluent coming out of this book. That's going to take practice, practice, practice.
But if you're like me, the revelation that this book offers is that the verb system is indeed finite...you get to see that there is an end to it...you can understand the way the entire system works...you can read stories and identify the tense and mood of each verb and know why it was written that way. In short, it's the best way out there to boost your confidence and speed your path towards mastery of the langauage.