Mike Thacker - Essential French Grammar

Essential French Grammar

Essential French Grammar is a student-friendly French grammar designed to give learners a firm foundation on which to build a real understanding of both spoken and written French.

Clear explanations of grammar are supported by contemporary examples, lively cartoon drawings and a variety of exercises.

Key features of each chapter:

each grammar point explained initially with reference to English

parallels between English and French provided where relevant

key points box and tables that summarize grammar concepts

real-life language examples in French, with English translations

a variety of exercises to reinforce learning

a contemporary primary source or literary extract to illustrate grammar in context.

A glossary of grammatical terms in French and English, useful verb tables, and a key to the exercises are also provided, making this an ideal resource for both independent and class-based learners.

Essential French Grammar is an innovative reference grammar and workbook for intermediate and advanced undergraduate students of French (CEFR levels B2 to C1, ACTFL Intermediate to Advanced).

Mike Thacker was Director of the Language Centre at the University of Surrey from 1991 to 2005 and has taught at all degree levels. He is co-author of several coursebooks for Spanish A level, A Spanish Learning Grammar and Friday Afternoon French (with Casimir dAngelo).

Casimir dAngelo is Director of the Language Unit in the Engineering Department of the University of Cambridge. He is co-author of Friday Afternoon French (with Mike Thacker).

Essential Language Grammars

Essential Language Grammars are available for the following languages:

French

German

ESSENTIAL

FRENCH GRAMMAR

Mike Thacker Casimir dAngelo

First published 2013
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2013 Mike Thacker and Casimir dAngelo

The right of the authors to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Thacker, Mike, author.
Essential French Grammar / Mike Thacker and Casimir dAngelo.
pages cm
Text in French and English.
Includes index.
1. French language--Grammar. 2. French language--Textbooks for foreign speakers--English. 3. French language--Spoken French. 4. French language--Study and teaching--English speakers. I. dAngelo, Casimir, author. II. Title.
PC2112.T49 2013
448.2421--dc23
2012044322

ISBN: 978-0-415-82596-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-4441-6689-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-78453-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby

CONTENTS

We wish to express our gratitude to Bianca Knights and Lucy Winder, for their encouragement and guidance during the writing of this book, and to Andrea Hartill and Samantha Vale Noya, of Routledge, for their help and advice in its final stages. We would also like to thank a number of anonymous reviewers for their feedback on several chapters. We owe a special debt of gratitude to our colleague Thomas Godard for his valuable comments on several chapters, which helped us to clarify a number of complex points of grammar.

The publishers would like to thank Editions Gallimard and the Estate of Jacques Prvert for their permission to reproduce Inventaire by Jacques Prvert and Nino Ferrer for permission to reproduce the lyrics to Les Cornichons.

Essential French Grammar was written out of a conviction that grammar is the key to attaining a real understanding of both spoken and written French. While it is possible to communicate with native speakers at a basic phrase book level using a limited number of structures, knowledge of the grammar of the language is essential to hold a conversation of any complexity, or write a letter or an essay successfully. In our long experience of teaching and examining, grammar plays a fundamental part in the learning process of students who aspire to higher levels of competence.

Our aim in writing Essential French Grammar is to provide a clear description of French grammar, together with practice exercises, for English-speaking undergraduate students of French and for those who are studying French in preparation to go to university. University students of French will benefit from using this book, whether they are specialist linguists or non-specialists studying a module in French as part of another degree. In terms of the commonly accepted European system for assessing achievement in a language, the book corresponds approximately to levels B1 to C1 of the Common European Framework Reference for Languages (Independent User to Proficient User).

In each of the 15 chapters we explain briefly how grammar works in English and then in French. This method enables students to grasp the fact that French has different ways of creating its grammatical rules, which derive from a distinctive cultural and linguistic tradition. The structure of each chapter follows a sequence:

each grammar point is explained initially with reference to English

parallels between English and French are then pointed out in a contrastive way

Key points relating the grammar in question are explained

a description of how the grammar is formed, where appropriate, and its main uses are then explored, with translated examples

in the final section of each chapter,