Likethepreviouseditions,thefiftheditionofthisreviewbookhasbeendesignedanddevelopedin ordertofacilitatethestudyofFrenchgrammar.Thebookisdividedintoninechapters.Eachonecon- centratesonthebasicproblemareasofthelanguage:nounsandarticles;adjectivesandadverbs;preposi- tions;numbers,dates,andtime;verbs;interrogatives;negatives;pronouns;andspecialmeaningsofcertain verbs. EachgrammaticalorstructuralpointisintroducedbyasimpleexplanationinEnglish.Theexplana- tionisfurtherclarifiedbymanyconcreteexamples.Itisrecommendedthatyoufirstreadtheexplanation andthenstudytheillustrativeexamples.Youshouldthenwriteouttheanswerstotheexercisesthatfollow. Youshouldrewritetheentiresentenceinfill-in-the-blankexerciseseventhoughonlyoneortwowordsare required.Itisrecommendedthatyoucorrectyourselfimmediatelybeforeproceedingtothenextexercise. Ananswerkeyappearsattheendofthebook. Inthisfifthedition,thegrammarexplanationshavebeenrevisedforgreaterclarity,possibleanswers havebeengivenasguidelinesforanswerstopersonalizedquestions,andthecontenthasbeenupdatedto includenewtechnologyandtheconversionfromthe franc tothe euro. Manyoftheexerciseshavebeenputintoauthentic,meaningfulcontextsandinvolvepractical,real-life situationstowhichstudentscanrelate.Someoftheexerciseswillrequireyoutounderstandmeaningas wellasforminordertosuccessfullycompletethem.Otherexerciseshavebeenaddedtoprovideforopen- endedandpersonalizedanswers.TheseexerciseswillhelpyoudevelopproficiencyinFrenchandprepare forcommunicativeactivitiesinyourclassroom. Oneofthemostdifficultandtedioustasksinacquiringasecondlanguageislearningthemanyforms thatexistinthelanguage,whethertheyarenoun,adjective,orverbforms.In Schaum’sOutlineofFrench Grammar,allformshavebeenlogicallygroupedinordertomaketheiracquisitionassimpleaspossibleand alsotominimizewhatatfirstappeartobeirregularities.Inmanytexts,theverbs courir, rire, rompre,and conclure aretreatedasseparateirregularverbsinthepresenttense.Youwillnote,however,thattheseverbs havealotincommon.Thesameendingsasthoseforregular -re verbsareaddedtotheinfinitivestem exceptinthethirdpersonsingular: courir—ilcourt,jecours,tucours,nouscourons,vouscourez,ilscourent rire—ilrit,jeris,turis,nousrions,vousriez,ilsrient rompre—ilrompt,jeromps,turomps,nousrompons,vousrompez,ilsrompent conclure—ilconclut,jeconclus,tuconclus,nousconcluons,vousconcluez,ilsconcluent Thiscanbedonewithmanyverbsinalltenses.Makingsuchgroupingswillgreatlyfacilitateyourtaskof masteringthemanyforms Schaum’sOutlineofFrenchGrammar canbeusedasareviewtext,asacompaniontoanybasictext,or asareferencebook.Inordertoreinforceeachpointyouarelearninginyourbasictext,youmaywishtoget additionalpracticebydoingtheclear,logicallyorganizedexercisesprovidedthroughoutthisbook.Each chaptercontainsreviewexercises.Thesesectionsareindicatedbythegraybarintheoutermargin. Forareviewofvocabularyorganizedbytopic,see Schaum’sOutlineofFrenchVocabulary,Third Edition.
