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Title: A Comprehensive Russian Grammar (Blackwell Reference Grammars) by Terence Leslie Brian Wade, Michael Holman ISBN: 0-631-20757-0 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: June, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $36.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: To Mr Howard.D.Rowland
Comment: Howard, this is a book published in Britain by British scholars and Russians who have chosen, for reasons that would no doubt illude you, to live in the United Kingdom and not in the United States. It is rather arrogant of you to expect a book published in Britain to pander to America by writing it with the American reader in mind, hence the "Briticisms" you fix upon in your argument regarding the negative points of this work. Moreover, for your information, British English is more cultivated that the rather vulgar dialect you Yanks have turned the English language into. Perhaps you could study English as your next language.
Rating: 4
Summary: Not bad
Comment: While this is definitly an informative book, it is more of a reference book as opposed to a book which will teach you the language with little or no Russian background. If you're already a student in Russian, this would make a good supplemtent to your studies. It is nice to have for a quick reference in the confusing or more subtle points of Russian grammar. However, if you have no background in Russian, I doubt that this book would be a good starting point.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good but not advanced enough.
Comment: What no one has mentioned here yet is that there is a grammar workbook by the same author that acts as a companion to this grammar book. This was a recommended work when I was doing a degree in Russian. It is a good and thourough work on the Russian language that you will, undoubtedly, find useful. However, I think that there are some sections that really need more detail. First of all the (painful!) verbs of motion need more clarification and explanation in relation to the variations used by Russian speakers. There have been whole books written on verbs of motion so the little that has been devoted to it here is not enough in my opinion. There have been times in my own interaction with Russians when I have been corrected in my use of a verb of motion even though what I said was grammatically correct. We need to know when and where to use them. Secondly, the section on perfectives and imperfectives and the way affixes are used is just not advanced and thourough enough. If you are going to spend your money on a grammar book you want the full story, don't you? Examples used tend to be from Soviet/Russian press, which is Ok, but also from authors such as Chekhov. I think it would be better to stick to modern sources as much as possible instead of gining readers the idea that what they may be learning might be older style Russian. I think that all the examples will be perfectly OK in modern Russian, but I think you should consider the impression you give readers as well as the actual information. Still, a good book and a good combination if used with the grammar book.
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