xiiPractising Italian Grammar – A Workbook
Answers to all exercises are included at the end of the book. The answers
offered correspond to the explanations and examples given in GMI, but in
many cases they are not the only acceptable answer (e.g. Chapter 13, 13.2 (b),
7, cuocendo is as valid as cucinando).
The translation exercises should be used creatively. They are not meant to
teach translation but to offer examples of idiomatic usage on specific gram-
matical points in both languages and as a further learning opportunity. For
example, the answers to English-into-Italian translations can be used as a
starting point, for Italian-into-English translations and then back-translated
into Italian. At a lower level, the two sets of sentences, English and Italian,
could be offered to learners for a matching exercise.
This book is the work of two authors, Alessia Bianchi and Clelia Boscolo,
who have jointly compiled each chapter. The translation exercises have been
written by Clelia Boscolo and Stephen Harrison. The cartoons have been
reproduced by kind permission of La Settimana Enigmistica– Copyright held.
Our thanks go to our editor, Eva Martinez, for her patience and forbearance;
to our students, who tried the exercises and suggested many improvements;
and to those colleagues who looked through the first draft of the workbook
and made many valuable comments and suggestions – Professor Michael
Caesar, Professor Italo Mariotti, Mr Gerry Slowey, Miss Monica Boria, and
Dr Jacqueline Visconti.
We would be grateful to receive comments on the exercises from colleagues
and learners who use them.
Alessia Bianchi
Clelia Boscolo
Stephen Harrison
e-mail:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Conventions used in the text
GMI = Grammar of Modern Italian
Dash (–) = No word required (see for example 3.3)