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Practice Makes Perfect Complete German Grammar
Build your confidence in your German skills with practice, practice, practice!
From present tense regular verbs to double object pronouns, this comprehensive guide and workbook covers all those aspects of German grammar that you might find a little intimidating or hard to remember. Practice Makes Complete German Grammar focuses on the practical aspects of German as it's really spoken, so you are not bogged down by unnecessary technicalities. Each unit features crystal-clear explanations, numerous realistic examples, and dozens of engaging exercises in a variety of formats--including multiple choice, fill-in sentences and passages, sentence rewrites, and creative writing--perfect for whatever your learning style.
Whenever possible, explanations include comparisons you to understand the basic logic behind the rules and to remember correct usage. This new edition
Time-saving vocabulary panels that eliminate having to look words up Advice on how to avoid common mistakes A detailed answer key for quick, easy progress checks Offering a winning formula for getting a handle on German grammar right away, Practice Makes Complete German Grammar your ultimate resource for learning to speak German the way the native speakers do.
From present tense regular verbs to double object pronouns, this comprehensive guide and workbook covers all those aspects of German grammar that you might find a little intimidating or hard to remember. Practice Makes Complete German Grammar focuses on the practical aspects of German as it's really spoken, so you are not bogged down by unnecessary technicalities. Each unit features crystal-clear explanations, numerous realistic examples, and dozens of engaging exercises in a variety of formats--including multiple choice, fill-in sentences and passages, sentence rewrites, and creative writing--perfect for whatever your learning style.
Whenever possible, explanations include comparisons you to understand the basic logic behind the rules and to remember correct usage. This new edition
Time-saving vocabulary panels that eliminate having to look words up Advice on how to avoid common mistakes A detailed answer key for quick, easy progress checks Offering a winning formula for getting a handle on German grammar right away, Practice Makes Complete German Grammar your ultimate resource for learning to speak German the way the native speakers do.
476 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 9, 2011
140 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 31, 2015
This is a great book spoiled by many editing errors. On the up-side, the book is well-structured. It introduces the reader to new ideas gradually and builds upon them in a thoughtful order. The teaching material is in English, the new ideas are accessibly presented and it's possible to bootstrap oneself into basic German with the book's alternation of new information with exercises. The exercises have answers in the back of the book (though often incorrect) and I've found that the book gives a great sense of making forward progress in a way that's pretty painless. I'm enjoying working through it. I'm halfway through and the whole might represent something like 60-80 hours of work to complete, covering most of A1 and A2 German.
On the down-side, there are so many sloppy editing problems. There are garbled sentences, mismatching exercises to answers, many incorrect answers that conflict with the earlier teaching material. In one section I was finding an error on almost every page. It slows down progress to need to double-check any incorrect exercise answers to see if I got it wrong or check in with my German tutor if it's the book at fault. My German teacher glanced over the book and saw several other errors that I had missed and was quite scorning of the book.
It's such a shame this book is let down by carelessness as I otherwise couldn't speak highly enough of it. The structure is well thought out. German is a tough language to master and the gradual pace has helped me not freak out about how much there is to master. The author has been teaching German for 30 years and his expertise shows through in knowing how to structure teaching that language. That does make it a bit of a surprise that so many obvious mistakes (even to me as a non German speaker) are in the text. I note that others of his books on German have been reviewed with the same criticisms.
Despite all of that it's still the best book I've found for structured self-learning.
On the down-side, there are so many sloppy editing problems. There are garbled sentences, mismatching exercises to answers, many incorrect answers that conflict with the earlier teaching material. In one section I was finding an error on almost every page. It slows down progress to need to double-check any incorrect exercise answers to see if I got it wrong or check in with my German tutor if it's the book at fault. My German teacher glanced over the book and saw several other errors that I had missed and was quite scorning of the book.
It's such a shame this book is let down by carelessness as I otherwise couldn't speak highly enough of it. The structure is well thought out. German is a tough language to master and the gradual pace has helped me not freak out about how much there is to master. The author has been teaching German for 30 years and his expertise shows through in knowing how to structure teaching that language. That does make it a bit of a surprise that so many obvious mistakes (even to me as a non German speaker) are in the text. I note that others of his books on German have been reviewed with the same criticisms.
Despite all of that it's still the best book I've found for structured self-learning.
April 6, 2021
Seit zwei Monaten, ich begann, Deutsche selbst zu lernen. Dieses Buch war toll für, dass. Ich liebe es sehr; es ist organisiert, kristallklar, und langweilig nicht.
Ich bin ein Anfänger, aber ich will zu lernen, und ich werde meine best geben. Das ist ein Super Buch!
Ich bin ein Anfänger, aber ich will zu lernen, und ich werde meine best geben. Das ist ein Super Buch!
November 20, 2021
این کتاب رو به صورت خودخوان خوندم و برای منی که مطالب رو با تمرین زیاد خوب یاد میگیرم و تو حافظهام موندگار میشه کتاب خیلی خوبی بود. تا جاییکه سواد آلمانیم قد میده پوشش خوبی روی گرامر این زبان داشت و خب شاید کوتاهی از من بود که الان ساختارهای گرامری رو درک میکنم اما دایره لغاتم کم شعاست و بید یه فکری به حالش کنم کما اینکه این کتاب لابه لای تمرین هاش کلمات خوبی هم داره و گاهی ترجمه کرده ولی خب پیگیری زبان آموز رو هم میطلبه.
پ.ن راستش میتونم بگم آلمانی اولین زبانیه که به شکل معمولش دارم یاد میگیرم (چون انگلیسی و فارسی رو تو بچگی همزمان با تغییر زبانم از آذری یادشون گرفتم و روند یادگیری برام ملموس نبود) لذا اگه تجربهای دارید که میتونه کمکم کنه خوشحال و خرسند میشم از شنیدنش.
پ.ن راستش میتونم بگم آلمانی اولین زبانیه که به شکل معمولش دارم یاد میگیرم (چون انگلیسی و فارسی رو تو بچگی همزمان با تغییر زبانم از آذری یادشون گرفتم و روند یادگیری برام ملموس نبود) لذا اگه تجربهای دارید که میتونه کمکم کنه خوشحال و خرسند میشم از شنیدنش.
April 7, 2014
If only I could say, "I came, I saw, I kicked its ass..." but I'm still not quite clear on the subjunctive.
Oh, well. I started this in earnest around the beginning of the year and dutifully worked through it until five minutes ago, when I finished the last damned exercise. It covers, roughly, the two years of college German I took almost twenty years ago (OMG, no) and considerably more than the German I took in high school.
Because this was all review, it worked very well for me as a refresher. (Except for passive voice and subjunctive I and II, which I still suck at...mistakes were made in those sections.)
Oh, well. I started this in earnest around the beginning of the year and dutifully worked through it until five minutes ago, when I finished the last damned exercise. It covers, roughly, the two years of college German I took almost twenty years ago (OMG, no) and considerably more than the German I took in high school.
Because this was all review, it worked very well for me as a refresher. (Except for passive voice and subjunctive I and II, which I still suck at...mistakes were made in those sections.)
January 10, 2019
The writer Mark Twain once joked, after a journey abroad, that the purpose of eternity was to give Americans the chance to learn German. After grappling with the language in earnest for more or less than a decade, Mr. Clemens' words are starting to lose their humorous quality and take on more than a grain of truth. I have an MA in Germanistik (German Studies), and even the head of my department who has her PhD and has lived in Germany for decades, always had her work checked by a native speaker, and some Germans I know claim she continued to make minor mistakes here and there (though her overall faculty with the language was stellar), especially when speaking extemporaneously. In short, German is very, very hard, for those whose mind (Language Acquisition Device for you Chomskyans) is already hardwired-set to read and interpret English.
This workbook, which I've used probably now for more than a year, is not a magic bullet, but it has corrected many of the defects that I routinely made in things like word order, the double-infinitive, and various exceptions to rules that are hard to follow and even harder to remember.
Is my German perfect after reading this book? No. Will I ever be able to speak as fluently as, say, Thomas Mann? Heck-to-the-naw, as the kids used to say back in my day. But I am speaking better German, so the book has met, if not exceeded, expectations. Recommended for those anywhere on their journey with the German language, from first year students to those who've been speaking for years but maybe want a refresher (the appendices alone make the book essential for those who don't want to constantly be cross-referencing with online dictionaries and databases every time they forget the simple past form of some subjunctive II verb or something).
This workbook, which I've used probably now for more than a year, is not a magic bullet, but it has corrected many of the defects that I routinely made in things like word order, the double-infinitive, and various exceptions to rules that are hard to follow and even harder to remember.
Is my German perfect after reading this book? No. Will I ever be able to speak as fluently as, say, Thomas Mann? Heck-to-the-naw, as the kids used to say back in my day. But I am speaking better German, so the book has met, if not exceeded, expectations. Recommended for those anywhere on their journey with the German language, from first year students to those who've been speaking for years but maybe want a refresher (the appendices alone make the book essential for those who don't want to constantly be cross-referencing with online dictionaries and databases every time they forget the simple past form of some subjunctive II verb or something).
September 15, 2020
Decent grammar book. Very excercise-heavy.
Contains a lot of essential grammar. The main drawback is that the book is more focused on continuous mindless repetition than on establishing logical patterns of the language.
Each grammar rule is followed by an excercise which makes you practicing this rule. Therefore, you have to practice each rule quite hard, but only once (and maybe couple times more on occasion where this rule might be related to a new one later in the book).
The book rarely explains grammar structure of the language in terms of its inner logic, for which German language is so well known. Without figuring out numerous connections between grammar rules plain remembering of all them is very difficult.
The book is handy as a grammar reference, but I consider the method of it to be of low efficiency.
Contains a lot of essential grammar. The main drawback is that the book is more focused on continuous mindless repetition than on establishing logical patterns of the language.
Each grammar rule is followed by an excercise which makes you practicing this rule. Therefore, you have to practice each rule quite hard, but only once (and maybe couple times more on occasion where this rule might be related to a new one later in the book).
The book rarely explains grammar structure of the language in terms of its inner logic, for which German language is so well known. Without figuring out numerous connections between grammar rules plain remembering of all them is very difficult.
The book is handy as a grammar reference, but I consider the method of it to be of low efficiency.
July 31, 2021
A dry reading, but what one would expect from a grammar book, especially a german grammar book ?
However, I find it exhaustive. Its 25 chapters cover everything from verbes and tenses, declinations, structure of sentences mad of main/relative/subordinate clauses, and so on.
Each chapter is built the same way : a grammatical point is introduced and followed immediately by a few exercises, then the next concept is explained with its accompanying exercises, etc...
I see other reviewers complain about the lack of accuracy of the answers at the end of the book. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on that part as my german level is still to low.
I would not recommend Practice Makes Perfect Complete German Grammar as a first book to learn german. But, atfer you have learnt basic vocabulary, you can definitely read AND do the exercises to learn the quite difficult german grammar. Nur Mut !
However, I find it exhaustive. Its 25 chapters cover everything from verbes and tenses, declinations, structure of sentences mad of main/relative/subordinate clauses, and so on.
Each chapter is built the same way : a grammatical point is introduced and followed immediately by a few exercises, then the next concept is explained with its accompanying exercises, etc...
I see other reviewers complain about the lack of accuracy of the answers at the end of the book. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on that part as my german level is still to low.
I would not recommend Practice Makes Perfect Complete German Grammar as a first book to learn german. But, atfer you have learnt basic vocabulary, you can definitely read AND do the exercises to learn the quite difficult german grammar. Nur Mut !
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews