Contents
vii
36
French in conversation: Asking for help
525
37
A taste of French literature
537
Appendix A French pronunciation
553
Appendix B Grammatical terminology for verbs
557
Appendix C French verb tables
561
Appendix D French-English / English-French glossary
587
Answer key
611
Translations
641
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ix
The idea of a book containing all knowledge is probably as old as literacy. In one
of his brilliant short fiction collections, The Book of Sand, Jorge Luis Borges
describes the paradox of infinity contained between the covers of a book. As every
student of French knows, there are always lacunae to fill—lexical, syntactic,
orthographic, and so on. Despite any progress, the learner feels not only over-
whelmed, but also stuck in quicksand, unable to reach solid ground. However, a
solid foundation exists, and its title is Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French
All-in-One.
This book provides a map of the French language—a cartographic represen-
tation, as it were—of the Empire of the French language, encompassing seven
provinces. What makes this map self-sufficient is the fact that it contains numer-
ous clues and indications to guide the wanderer through lesser-known, or even
unmapped, labyrinths. Distilling the best content from seven Practice Makes Per
-
fect titles, this book features hand-picked selections from the following:
◆ Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French Grammar may not include every
grammatical rule conceivable to man or woman; nevertheless, it provides
a general idea of French grammar, which you can use as a compass.
◆ Practice Makes Perfect: French Nouns and Their Genders Up Close enter-
tains the quizzical world of French nouns, where words sometimes have
two genders or even seem undecided. In this region, you will learn how to
detect the correct gender of nouns on the basis of their context.
◆ Practice Makes Perfect: French Vocabulary, relying on its thematic struc-
ture, encourages the development of a rich vocabulary by starting from
your own particular interests and naturally moving from a familiar con-
text to lesser-known fields.
◆ In Practice Makes Perfect: French Sentence Builder, you’ll assume the role of
an architect, metaphorically speaking, of course. Nevertheless, you will
learn, just as architects do, that a clear conception must precede the work of
a building a structure. In this section, as in the others, engaging exercises
and examples drawn from real life lead to a mastery of syntactic forms.
◆ It has been said that French prepositions are the Achilles’ heel of highly
proficient French students. Indeed, a wrong preposition can totally de-
molish an elegant French speaker’s reputation. However, Practice Makes
Perfect: French Pronouns and Prepositions provides a plethora of exercises,
based on written French and everyday daily discourse, which will develop
an ability to pick the right preposition and to grasp the preposition-pro-
noun synergy in French.
Preface
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x
Preface
◆ In the breathtaking province of
Practice Makes Perfect: French Verb Tenses, the student
learns to perceive time, particularly the past, in a new way. Grammar manuals may de-
scribe a tense, but a visit to this province teaches us the inimitable art of modulating
tenses, from passé composé to passé simple to imparfait naturally and seamlessly as the
narrative unfolds, just as a master of French prose would.
◆ Practice Makes Perfect: French Problem Solver tackles the many conundrums that haunt
even the most accomplished learner. For example, a manual of grammar merely describes
the dance of pronouns in a sentence with two pronouns; this section strives to explain the
dance itself, thus encouraging you to look at what’s behind grammatical rules.
• And new to this premium second edition, recordings of the answers to numerous exercises
are provided via the McGraw-Hill Education Language Lab app. This streaming audio will
help readers improve both listening and speaking skills.
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