HAMMER CRAMMER (Hammer's German Grammar and Usage)

Member Name: sugarlily83

Product:	Hammer's German Grammar and Usage
Date:	03/07/02 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to use

Disadvantages: heavy going

What? You want to study advanced German grammar? Are you mad? Yes? Oh well, ok then. In that case may I suggest Hammer's German Grammar and Usage?

This surprisingly light 541 page volume set me back only around £20 and is really popular so should be no bother to track down.

Written now by Martin durell and updated in 1996 to incorperate the spelling reforms of 1998, it is clear and every point is well explained, with both English and German examples. The body text is thankfully in English, and while at first glance all that can be seen are pages and pages of text, a closer delve will show what a useful tool this is.

Designed for hardcore grammatists, ie degree students, it is probably the most popular grammar reference amongst students due to its comprehensive cover of the language and its user-friendly format.

The contents and index pages are both very in-depth, and covered in this book, amongst other things, are:

*nouns
*gender
*cases
*personal and other pronouns
*articles
*adjectives and adverbs
*numerals
*modal participles-- eg, bloss, jedenfalls, sowieso
*conjugation of verbs
*participles
*tenses
*the passive
*the moods
*conjunctions
*prepositions
*word order
*spelling and punctuation.

Due to the exhaustiveness of the cover in this book, it is not one for the beginner or GCSE student: background knowledge is assumed, although cross references are given so that the confused student can look up anything misunderstood.

The index directs to a section or subsection, rather that a page, which works well, and the whole book is very easily naviagable. Easy to understand charts are included throughout to explain adjectival endings and so on.

I like to take this book with me onto the train to learn particular grammatical points, and what I particularly like is the quality of the explanation: as an example, wit
h prepositions, rather than simply listing them it takes you through all the uses of each word, both common and less so.

If you plan to buy this book, it is worth knowing that there is available a work book for around £12, which includes exercises that relate to the text book. Co-written by Katrin Kohl, a lecturer in German at Jesus college, Oxford, this is a valuable addition to the bookshelf. (I love degree text books. They're always written by people you know- your lecturers, so they're designed specially to help the struggling student.)

I met Katrin Kohl at interviews at Oxford. While she is clearly excellent enough in her field to write a grammar workbook, she did have the misjudgement to turn me away. Sob! Oh well, I was proud to have even got that far ;-)

Sugarlily. x

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