****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This is the best reference grammar I have seen for people who want to truly master the French language. "L'essentiel" discusses all the main topics that seem to plague foreign learners - use of the subjunctive, when to suppress articles, subordinate clauses - and the chapters on a given topic are divided into "Form" and "Use" sections showing you, for example, how to form the conditional tense and then explaining its use in French.Much mention is made of verbs that are followed by prepositions (eg: commencer a faire qqch, etc), but a more expanded discussion of phrasal verbs would be very useful, as only the most common ones are discussed (eg: en vouloir a, etc).One area where improvement could be made is in the usage of le passe simple tense. Explanation on this topic is sparse, and the reader does not get an idea of the true difference between the passe simple and the use of the passe compose to express the same idea. Little explanation is also given on how the imperfect subjunctive must be used in cases requiring the subjunctive mood once the passe simple is employed.But overall, an excellent book for someone who already knows French and wants to move towards a magnus level.
