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Brandon Simpson must be one of the more modest instructors in language to commit his concise help to students on paper. With a disarming simplicity of style he leads those who are studying (and those who need refreshing) Spanish in this small in size but large in value book DEMYSTIFYING SPANISH GRAMMAR: Clarifying the Written Accents, Ser/Estar, Para/Por, the Imperfect/Preterit, & the Dreaded Spanish Subjunctive (yes, that is the complete title!).
In addition to explaining the importance of accent placement, the use of the tilde, the meaning of the upside down and right side up question marks, etc and of course in his explanation of the topics he succinctly lists in the title, Simpson very quietly offers information such as the codes of the use of creating accents on the computer.
For example, how many people know that using ALT + 0241 places a tilde over the ‘n’ that eludes us, or that ALT + 0233 places an accent mark over any letter needing one, etc? This is a little adjunct to the book that goes beyond the study of Spanish and one that writers should have at their fingertips.
Another very useful aspect of this book is the choice of font - finally one that can be easily read and referenced with the guide placed beside the computer.
Simpson makes sure the reader is progressively understanding his explanations by offering quick and snappy quizzes throughout the text - a chance to practice newly learned lessons. All of which is to say this manual is a User Friendly source for all who are trying to master the Spanish language, whether in the classroom or communicating verbally with the large portion of our population more bilingual than many of us - especially in California.
Yes, this would be a fine addition to any classroom or student library, but there is ample information for learning the right way for all of us who otherwise make crusty attempts to speak the fluid language of Spanish. A very fine and very affordable tool for all of us.
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