German Grammar Drills (Drills Series)

German Grammar Drills (Drills Series)

Product Type: Book

Product Price: $12.95

Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill

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Description

Sharpen your German grammar with skill-building exercises

If you want to be proficient in German, you eventually have to clear the bothersome hurdle of grammar. The best way to conquer this obstacle is through hands-on experience. Covering all facets of German grammar--from prepositions and pronouns to verbal forms and tenses--German Grammar Drills helps you learn often-perplexing topics with fun and engaging exercises.

This comprehensive book features:

Topics include:
Determining the genders of words * Accusative-dative prepositions * Der words and ein words * Relative pronouns * Infinitive clauses * Comparatives and superlatives * and more

Reviews

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-07-21
Summary: "Not for everyone, but overall a good book."

I've been learning German for about a year now, all through self-study and Livemocha.com. I found this book to be very challenging, for the same reason another review stated: Many sentences that are either examples or parts of the drills use vocab or syntax that have not yet been explained. I actually had to keep a German dictionary by my side while working through this, which made the process three times as slow. It was either that, or resign myself to not understanding about 1/4 of what I was writing.

Another reviewer stated there's no clutter and the font is nice...it's true, however I also found it a little dry. I'm a very visual person, the kind that color codes my notes, so the absence of ANY kind of decor within the book made it seem monotone and inaccessible at times.

That being said, my ability to read German has improved greatly since I first began, so it achieves its primary function. Learning a language requires so much dedication, determination, and PATIENCE, all of which are required to complete this particular book. Think of it as a labor of love.

Rating: 2 / 5
Date: 2010-07-02
Summary: "Not for beginners"

Though I am a beginning German student, I am fluent in both Spanish and French, and therefore know a little about learning a foreign language. I purchased German Grammer Drills, German Sentence Structure, and the German Verb tenses. The books all state that they are 'Perfect for the Beginning and Intermediate Learners", but this is not the case. The books give a few examples in English, but almost all of the exercises are in German. That's would be ok, if there were a vocabulary key given in English. But there isn't, which makes it a very difficult book to use. In order to use this book, I would have to sit with a dictionary and look up words in almost every sentence. This is very time consuming and impractical. The exercises in the book would be great for someone much farther along in their German studies. The exercises are simple and not complicated, but the fact that there are no translations makes it extremely difficult to use. One of the first exercises asks you to provide nouns that use the same endings as those in parentheses. There is a list of 15 different endings. As a beginning student, I haven't learned enough vocabulary to be able to think of enough nouns to do the exercise. There is no vocabulary given to draw from.
I think it's a great book to use as a review after you have learned quite a bit of German - to brush up on your skills. But this is definitely NOT the book for a beginner.

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-05-28
Summary: "Useful grammar trainer and tester"

The pages of this book are well laid out and appealing because they ar A4 size, the writing is well laid out and the print is not crowded. It is user friendly to write in it without having to minimize the size of my handwriting.
On the negative side, some might find the pages a bit on the bland side as there are no images or decorations or cartoons, but not a problem really.


The content is logical and thorough starting with " Determining Gender" (a greatly chapter drilling you in all the tricks to know gender) to subjunctive moods and infinitive clauses chapters.(27 chapters)
It includes review tests for sections and the whole book at the end.
The answer key is well laid out and easily readable.

I would not recommend this book for a total beginner unless you are happy to look up any unknown words.There are no vocabulary boxes or lists. On the plus side the vocabulary is not trying to be difficult. There are also some excercises which ask you to finish a sentence or write one given a cue , so for these you would need a teacher to mark your response.
I am pleased I have bought this book! I have two other ones on grammar but I would not give up this one.



Rating: 2 / 5
Date: 2010-03-26
Summary: "Confusing"

I bought this book because my teacher tries to stay away from the grammar as much as possible and unlike most people I actually enjoy grammar. This book was not helpful at all, it ended up confusing me more then it helped me. I do not recommend this book at all, it's only a waste of time and money. I looked at other grammar books and found this one: Interactive German Grammar Made Easy by Lisa Kahlen. I highly recommend Interactive German Grammar Made Easy because it not only explains things in a simple and easy way but it also comes with a CD that has a native speaker to read the sentences to you. Interactive German Grammar Made Easy also has many exercises in the book and on the CD.

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-02-01
Summary: "GERMAN GRAMMAR"

I once thought I knew how to put German sentences together, but my 8 trips to German-speaking Europe have shown me the error of my ways. I have other German educational materials, but the printed grammar drills are good for me. I think you will find them equally valuable.