## INTRODUCTION 

If you are an English-speaking learner preparing GCSE, Scottish Standard Grade (credit level) or similar examination, or simply learning the language for everyday use, this grammar and workbook is for you. You will typically be either following a course at school, college or evening class, or teaching your- self from a published course. This book is not itself a course, but a self-help reference/revision grammar, with exercises designed to reinforce your grasp of the points dealt with, unit by unit. You will fi nd it a help to have access to a good Italian–English dictionary when working through the book. 

Since this is not a self-contained course, the grammar points are usually given on their own, out of context. Of course, this is arti fi cial, because, in everyday life, when we say or write something it is always in a situation or context. To compensate for this arti fi ciality, the grammar points are illus- trated with abundant examples, which are often reused, with variations, under di ff erent headings. This is partly to strengthen your grasp of grammar and vocabulary, but mostly to help you learn how to manipulate the Italian language in a wide range of situations. Giving plenty of examples is a more e ff ective way of helping you develop the ability to communicate in Italian than giving you lists of rules with just one or two examples. 

At the end of each unit, there are several sets of exercises. If you work through these, you will fi nd that they consolidate your understanding of the various points introduced in the unit, and also that they give you the con- fi dence to have a go at expressing yourself in a range of situations and contexts. 

The aim of the examples and exercises is to strengthen awareness of the speci fi c points dealt with in the unit; they are not intended to cover all the possible uses of a given word or grammatical structure. 

At the end of the book, there is a key to all the exercises, and a glossary of grammatical terms, with examples. 

