Leon-Francois Hoffmann

NA

I confess that I have a sentimental attachment to this grammar, having struggled with it as an undergraduate and having often referred to it in my career as a teacher of French. The flat tone of the sample sentences seemed to me to embody something of French willingness to look things in the eye. Particularly useful, early on, were the "Difficultés de traduction" sections.

I've been trying to learn French for a hundred kabillion years and have had to buy a lot of different text books. The advantages of this one: it's cheaper and doesn't try to woo me with cartoons and characters. It doesn't pretend to be fun. And guess what, it's not! I appreciate the honesty. The disadvantages: all of the explanations are completely in French.

NA