French Grammar [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION If your knowledge of French grammar is elementary, non-existent or just rusty, this book has been designed to help you to get to grips with the basic features of the French language. Those with a more advanced grasp of French will find it an invaluable guide for reference and revision. You will see from the list of contents overleaf that the text has been divided according to parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, verbs etc.). We've tried to anticipate those grammatical terms with which you might not be familiar, and a brief explanation (or illustration) is often provided at a relevant point in the text. A special feature of this book is the clear demarcation of grammatical points, illustrated by numerous examples. For instance, if you turn to page 30, you'll see a series of bracketed numbers, (-^>1) to (^7), throughout the page. These numbers cross-refer you to an example, or group of examples, on page 31. In this way, individual grammatical points given on the left-hand page are illustrated on the right-hand page. This means that the examples are readily accessible to the learner without obscuring the clarity of presentation. Throughout the book, special attention has been paid to areas in which French usage differs from English usage, particularly in the section on sentence structure. Other sections include: use of numbers, translation problems and pronunciation. The translation problem section alerts you to some of the pitfalls of translation, and provides a selection of frequently recurring problems, showing how to solve them. A fully comprehensive index, containing key words in both French and English, as well as subject references, completes the grammar. Abbreviations used ctd. continued p(p). page(s) qn quelqu'un fern. feminine perf. perfect sb somebody infin. infinitive plur. plural sing, singular masc. masculine qch quelque chose sth something