Repase y escriba: Curso avanzado de gramática y composición

by Maria Canteli Dominicis, John J. Reynolds

This perennial best-seller is written for Advanced Grammar and Composition or Advanced Composition and Conversation classes. Grammatical explanations are given in English to facilitate comprehension. Numerous excercises help improve oral, written, and vocabulary skills. The contextualized exercises focus on contemporary situations students are likely to encounter. With updated literary and cultural readings, Repase y Escriba includes an "oral exchange," to make the text more useful when stressing conversation. New sections provide hints on the "art" of writing and rules for punctuation and grammar.

Genres: Nonfiction, Textbooks, Spanish Literature, School

440 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1987

Reviews

[Juniper Shore]

I have now used this textbook in two different Spanish courses, and both professors said they disliked it but there was nothing better available.

Some of the key weaknesses:

1. The book is heavy on vocabulary, which is not a bad thing by itself, but the vocab isn't integrated into the text in any meaningful way. Instead we get long lists of words, sometimes with English translations and sometimes without, but invariably missing the genders. You had better have a good dictionary with you (I recommend Oxford Spanish Desk Dictionary: Spanish-English/English-Spanish), because you will spend a lot of time looking stuff up.

2. It's highly technical. I don't know whether Dominicis is a linguist by trade, but her writing is loaded with dry academic analysis. A typical paragraph: "The verb soler (ue) is used in the present and imperfect tenses of the indicative and, rarely, in the present and imperfect subjunctive and it means to use to when the subject is a person and to be customary or frequent when the subject is inanimate" (10).

3. There are lots of typos, at least in the English-language portions.

4. It's depressing. By the end of the course you will have learned more about domestic violence, suicide, political oppression and genocide than any healthy person should ever know.

On the plus side, the exploration of Spanish grammar is extremely thorough. If you take the time to really work through the exercises you can learn a lot, but it's painful getting there. I would have preferred a more narrative approach, with side-by-side English and Spanish texts, and footnotes on the differences between the languages. But that would be a completely different style of teaching.

[Catherine]

So, I'm cheating on this because we only used half the book for class. I liked the way the info was lined out and the exercises were decent. I would have been totally lost without a professor though.

[Jared Rhodes]

Really great resource to improve my Spanish. Presents advanced topics well to improve grammar and fluency.

[Kim]

Mi libro de español ahora mismo

[Kelly]

Best advanced Spanish book out there.

[HollyAnne Giffin]

My love for this text book knows no bounds. It is highly detailed and a wonderful stepping stone from "traditional" high school Spanish into the world of nuanced proficiency.