The Ultimate French Review and Practice is a comprehensive review of basic and more advanced grammar concepts in French.  Each chapter is designed to reinforce (or relearn, as the case may be) a specific grammatical theme.  The grammar explanations are very clear and not too long. It is organized into 28 different sections complete with practice exercises.  There is an answer key in the back of the book so that students can check their work as they go.

Interspersed throughout the chapters are small sections on different aspects of  French culture.  The book also includes very useful vocabulary words and idiomatic expressions.  In fact, there are extensive lists of the idiomatic uses of verbs (such as expressions with aller, faire, and avoir).  These are very important for truly mastering the French language.

Since mastering verb conjugations is one of the most difficult parts of learning a language, the book focuses on different tenses and conjugations (conditional, future, futur proche, past imperfect, simple past, conditional past).  I have used this book often when teaching adult education courses.  It is an excellent resource that they can return to even when the class is over. I use this book as the grammar portion of the course and then I provide cultural supplements.  I have heard nothing but good things about the book from my students.  It is also good for tutoring.  I ask my clients to do the exercises before out meetings and then we analyze what they are and are not understanding based on their work in the book.

Ronni L Gordon and David M Stillman, McGraw - Hill, 1999

This article was written by Jen Bouchard