Learning a language is a creative endeavor that allows you to fully express yourself using a new medium, much like the arts. However, it’s also a scientific endeavor full of rules that must be followed. For the latter, a methodical learning approach must be implemented. In any instance of an “exact science” reference books are a key resource, and learning grammar is no exception. If you are studying Portuguese, then it might be a wise investment to purchase Portuguese Grammar: A Complete, Concise, and Practical Reference.
You don’t study a dictionary from cover to cover and chances are you won’t do that with this book, either. However, you will quickly realize that this book comes in handy over and over again, and your purchase was well worth it. When you aren’t sure about the reflexive, reciprocal and pronominal pronouns in Portuguese where else will you turn? Portuguese Grammar: A Complete, Concise, and Practical Reference is the book with all of the grammar answers you need.
If you are a Portuguese language teacher, then you should recommend that all of your students have a copy of this book on their shelf at home. Many times, planning grammar lessons can be difficult as native speakers of a language are often so familiar with the grammatical rules that it can become cumbersome to explain them to a non-native speaker. As a teacher, you can use this book to help you explain grammar concepts or to make a list of grammar lessons that you should cover in class.
The chapters in this book don’t follow a specific order or structure. In fact, the chapters simply address a specific grammar structure and provide a number of explanations and examples. Students will not find any writing activities or listening comprehension exercises in this book either.
It’s important to remember that this is a reference book; there’s nothing interesting, pretty or engaging about it. It’s not meant to be fun, flashy or intriguing. The sole purpose of this book is to address questions of grammatical issues that may arise when a student is studying Portuguese while using another book. This is not meant to be a study guide, workbook or classroom book. Sure, there are a few clip art pictures scattered throughout the book, but it’s still largely a dry reference book only used by students really interested in learning Portuguese.
"It’s important to remember that this is a reference book; there’s nothing interesting, pretty or engaging about it. It’s not meant to be fun, flashy or intriguing."
This book succeeds at delivering everything it promises. It fully lives up to its name as a “complete, concise and practical reference”, addressing every grammatical issue you can think of. The only downfall is that it may be a bit cumbersome to find the issue that you need to practice. If you want to get a better understanding of “past continuous”, you’ll have to scan over an eight page long table of contents to find out the page number of the lesson you need. This is a minor issue, however, which hardly defers from the overall usefulness and importance of such a thorough reference book for Portuguese grammar.
