Upgrade Your Italian

Clelia Boscolo is Language Tutor and Coordinator of Italian Language Courses at the Department of Italian Studies and at the Centre for Modern Languages, University of Birmingham, UK

• Day 1 Basic errors: article/ noun/adjective agreement; agreement with participles used as adjectives.Day 2 Vocabulary: describing peopleDay 3 Basic errors: relative clauses. Chi vs che, using il che, using il/la cuiDay 4 Vocabulary: leisure and youth cultureDay 5 Basic errors: agreement with Molto, troppo and poco. Migliore vs meglio. Using tutto, ogni, qualche and un po'Day 6 Vocabulary: the media: television and the pressDay 7 Basic errors: time expressionsDay 8 Vocabulary: the arts: music, literature, cinemaDay 9 Basic errors: piacere and other impersonal verbsDay 10 Vocabulary: historyDay 11 Basic errors: past tense; passato prossimo vs imperfettoDay 12 Vocabulary: geographyDay 13 Basic errors: using the subjunctiveDay 14 Vocabulary: modern Italian society; features and problemsDay 15 Basic errors: passive sentences: using venire and andareDay 16 Style: rhetorical signpostsDay 17 Basic errors: gerund vs infinitiveDay 18 Vocabulary: politics and current affairsDay 19 Basic errors: imperatives and pronounsDay 20 Vocabulary: the environmentDay 21 Basic errors: impersonal constructions with si and modal verbsDay 22 Vocabulary: educationDay 23 Basic errors: if clauses and conditional expressionsDay 24 Style: dialogue and reported speechDay 25 Basic errors: using the past historic and the future of possibilityDay 26 Vocabulary: healthDay 27 Basic errors: minor points; using possessives and articles + prepositions correctlyDay 28 Style: false friendsDay 29 Vocabulary: revisionDay 30 Basic errors: revision

For A-level (or equivalent) students pressed for time this is the best possible aid to revision since it concentrates on identifying the most common basic errors and the most useful vocabularly. It is obvious that it has been written by a first rate teacher who knows all about whetting her students' appetites and then not overfeeding them. The 30 "One day-at-a-time" chapters were just perfect for me. And I am still learning a lot from this, my constant companion.Victor Bleaze A reader from Belfast