German in Review

by Kimberly Sparks

GERMAN IN REVIEW, a complete grammar of the German language, is a highly regarded program offering both innovative online activities and timeless skill-building exercises for classroom use.

Genres: German Literature, Reference, Language, Nonfiction, Linguistics

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another survivor from my high school days! German in Review was not actually the text used in my high school class, but was a book given to me by the instructor, when I complained that our text-book didn't explain the grammar very coherently. I am ashamed to say that I never returned this to him - I, who am usually so scrupulous about returning borrowed books... I wonder if Herr Schulz is still teaching, and if he still uses this title?

Divided into twelve chapter, Sparks and Vail's book addresses all the major grammatical questions of the beginning and intermediate German student. Chapter topics include: Verbs / Adjective Endings / Comparison of Adjectives & Adverbs / Prepositions / Time Expressions / Modal Auxiliaries / Passive Voice / Subjunctive II / Relative Pronouns & Relative Clauses / Conjunctions / Subjunctive I / Special Problems.

I used this many times to review...

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very solid introductory textbook. It's set up in a very flexible fashion, so it will probably be suitable for people with zero-to-little German experience as well as those who have taken a course or two and need a good refresher. Most topics are divided up into two or three sections, so those who have a bit of a background with the language can skip ahead to the more advanced grammatical bits.

I appreciated that each chapter had a nice selection of exercises at the end (I'm the sort of person who will never, ever learn a language unless I'm forced to actually use it in some way).

My only complaint was that the breadth of vocabulary was very narrow. On one level this is helpful - by the end you'll have a solid core of German vocabulary that you've gone over multiple times. But I do think that the selection could have been a bit bigger, if only to give the reader a bit more to work with when they move from textbooks to actual texts.

Now on to read some actual German! I guess that will show how well (or not) this book actually worked.

[Jenny Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very clear and useful German grammar book. It doesn’t really matter that it was published forty years ago. Good even for a beginning student.

[Maizie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful.