The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice: Mastering Verbs and Sentence Building for Confident Communication

I began reading this book and doing the exercises after a very basic beginner's class which sparked my interest in learning the language more thoroughly. While I would say this book can be a stretch for beginning students of Spanish, it's perfect for intermediate and advanced learners. I read this book two years ago and once I had completed it, I took a placement exam for the University of Costa Rica's "Spanish for foreigners" class. I was able to qualify for the advanced level! Since then I have purchased more than sixty books which cover all aspects of the Spanish language. This book is, by far, the one I consider most useful and still use as a review. The explanations of the grammar are straightforward and easy to understand (even the dreaded subjunctive!) There are plenty of very useful exercises with an answer-key in the back of the book. Chapters often build on previous information and is best to work through this book sequentially. I can't say enough good things about this book!

This book is better than most at explaining the complex rules of Spanish, but also some of the interesting background behind the rules. Not for beginners, but definitely a great book for year 2 Spanish learners.

I have been using The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice: Mastering Spanish Grammar for Confident Communication as a review and reference book. It has seen me through Spanish language exams, travel to Spanish-speaking countries, business meetings where I had to speak Spanish, and even social situations. I read Spanish language newspapers and magazines and even some history and literature and watch Mexican telenovelas with a high level of comprehension. I've been seeking a good follow-up review text and at last I found it: The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice: Mastering Verbs and Sentence Building for Confident Communication. This amazing book is taking me through verb forms in all the tenses. The explanations are crystal clear and there are loads of exercises for practice. I love the Building Sentences section in each chapter because from the simple conjugated verb I learn how to build sentences by adding the verb + infinitive construction, or create sentences with double object pronouns; I learn how to express probability, how to focus on a certain element in the sentence, etc. I can say all the things I've wanted to say about "if something happens" or "if something were to happen" or "if something had happened" (possible conditions or contrary-to-fact conditions). I like the presentation of Spanish grammar contrasted with English grammar. I'm a native English speaker but never really thought about English grammar until I used The Ultimate books. I find this very helpful, and I'm learning a lot about English, too! Spanish has a lot of tenses and a lot of irregular verbs. The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice is helping me to learn and practice them in context. I really like that the book allows me to go out of order which means if I need more practice on the present subjunctive (which I do!), I can jump right to Chapter 11. This book makes learning Spanish so logical and even enjoyable. I think the Language Boxes are great because I'm learning interesting facts about Spanish. I didn't know that about 4,000 Spanish words, such as ojalá, el café, el alcohol, and hasta, were borrowed from Arabic. I am also learning many words that Spanish borrows from English to describe computer terms, such as crashear, linkear, and cliquear. The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice is the gold standard of language teaching books.

I want to be the first to review this extraordinary book as I am already a happy (and frequent) user of The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice: Mastering Spanish Grammar for Confident Communication, a book by the same authors Gordon and Stillman that made it possible for me to learn Spanish to speak, read and write for business. I reviewed that book 12-26-99, "Spanish Learning Made Easy". I am now using The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice: Mastering Verbs and Sentence Building for Confident Communication to further my study of Spanish. I find the book particularly helpful for many reasons. First, the comprehensive number of verbs and the organization of verb lists in structural and semantic groupings provides an easy way to expand my vocabulary and a good reference tool. Second, the grammar explanations of verbs and tenses are extremely clear. Third, each of the 15 chapters presents one or more tenses or type of verb, followed by a section called Building Sentences in which the verbs and tenses studied are expanded into meaningful sentences. Fourth, the book has loads of exercises of all types, and much useful current vocabulary, such as computer and technology verbs. Fifth, I like the language boxes that give interesting information about the Spanish language. Sixth, because the chapters can be used in any order, I can personalize my Spanish language education and focus on key areas for me in a quick and efficient manner. Seventh, the book is so well-organized and user-friendly that I can work through a tense or irregular verb on a short flight. This smart and unique book was written for advanced beginning through advanced learners of Spanish, and I have already recommended it to friends and business associates who are at different levels. The authors' method really works for me as I am confidently and successfully using Spanish in my professional and personal lives.