A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish - Second Edition

Oct 12, 2026

A new reference grammar of modern Spanish presents an intermediate-to-advanced guide to the morphology and syntax of educated speech and plain prose across Spain and Latin America at the end of the twentieth century. It addresses the linguistic diversity of Spanish, contrasting unity claims with varying national norms and debates over “correctness,” including the changing status of European Castilian and the rising prestige of Latin-American varieties. The work is structured through detailed chapters and supporting references and indexes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages532

Reading Time3 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Preface to the first edition (abridged and revised)

Preface to the second edition

Conventions, spelling and abbreviations

Gender of nouns

Plural of nouns

Articles

Adjectives

Comparison of adjectives and adverbs

Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns

Neuter article and pronouns

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

Miscellaneous adjectives and pronouns

Numerals

Personal pronouns

Letters and lo/la/los/las

Forms of verbs

Use of indicative (non-continuous) verb forms

Continuous forms of the verb

The subjunctive

The imperative

The infinitive

Participles

The gerund

Modal auxiliary verbs

Personal a

Negation

Interrogation and exclamation

Conditional sentences

Pronominal verbs

Verbs of becoming

Passive and impersonal sentences

Ser and estar

Existential sentences ('there is/are', etc.)

Adverbs

Expressions of time

Conjunctions

Contents (continued)

Prepositions

Relative clauses and pronouns

Nominalizers and cleft sentences

Word order

Diminutive, augmentative and pejorative suffixes

Spelling, accent rules, punctuation and word division

Bibliography and sources

Index of English words

Index of Spanish words and grammatical points

A New Reference Grammar ofModern Spanish A New Reference Grammarof Modern Spanish Second EditionJohn ButtCarmen Benjamin Edward Arnold A member of the Hodder Headline GroupLONDON NEW YORK MELBOURNE AUCKLAND 1988,1994 John Butt and Carmen Benjamin First published in Great Britain 1988Second edition published 1994 Distributed in the USA by Routledge,Chapman and Hall,Inc29 West 35th Street,New York,NY 10001 British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataAvailable upon request Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Butt,John,1943- A new reference grammar of modern Spanish/John Butt,Carmen Benjamin.—2nd ed. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references(p.499)and index. ISBN-13:978-1-4615-8370-7 e-ISBN-13:978-1-4615-8368-4 DOI:10.1007/978-1-4615-8368-4 1.Spanish language—Grammar. I.Benjamin,Carmen. I.Title. PC4112.B881994 468.2'421—dc20 All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any formor by any means,electronically or mechanically,including photocopying,recording or anyinformation storage or retrieval system,without either prior permission in writing from thepublisher or a licence permitting restricted copying.In the United Kingdom suchlicencesare issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency:90 Tottenham Court Road,London W1P9HE. Typeset in 10/12 pt.Palatino by Anneset,Weston-super-Mare,Avon.a division of Hodder Headline PLC, 338 Euston Road,London NW13BH.by St Edmondsbury Press,Bury St Edmunds,Suffolkand Hartnolls Ltd.,Bodmin,Cornwall. Contents Preface to the first edition(abridged and revised)Preface to the second editionConventions,spelling and abbreviations m区 1 Gender of nouns12 Plural of nouns173 Articles304 Adjectives515 Comparison of adjectives and adverbs736 Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns837 Neuter article and pronouns898 Possessive adjectives and pronouns949 Miscellaneous adjectives and pronouns10110 Numerals11411 Personal pronouns12312 Lelles and lo/la/los/las14313 Forms of verbs15614 Use of indicative (non-continuous)verb forms20715 Continuous forms of the verb23016 The subjunctive23717 The imperative27318 The infinitive28119 Participles29220 The gerund29821 Modal auxiliary verbs30722 Personal a31223 Negation31924 Interrogation and exclamation32925 Conditional sentences33526 Pronominal verbs34127 Verbs of becoming35828 Passive and impersonal sentences36229 Ser and estar37530 Existential sentences('there is/are’,etc.)38231 Adverbs38532 Expressions of time40133 Conjunctions410 vi Contents 34 Prepositions41935 Relative clauses and pronouns44836 Nominalizers and cleft sentences45837 Word order46438 Diminutive,augmentative and pejorative suffixes47639 Spelling,accent rules,punctuation and word division483Bibliography and sources499Index of English words503Index of Spanish words and grammatical points506 # Preface to the first edition(abridged and revised) This reference grammar offers intermediate and advanced students a reason-ably comprehensive guide to the morphology and syntax of educated speechand plain prose in Spain and Latin America at the end of the twentiethcentury. Spanish is the main,usually the sole official language of twenty-onecountries,1 and it is set fair to overtake English by the year 2000 in numbersof native speakers.2 This vast geographical and political diversity ensures thatSpanish is a good deal less unified than French,German or even English,thelatter more or less internationally standardized according to either Americanor British norms. Until the 1960s,the criteria of internationally correct Spanish were dictatedby the Real Academia Espanola,but the prestige of this institution has now sunkso low that its most solemn decrees are hardly taken seriously -witness thefate of the spelling reforms listed in the Nuevas normas de prosodia y ortografia,which were supposed to come into force in all Spanish-speaking countriesin 1959 and,nearly forty years later,are still selectively ignore

FAQs

What audience and scope does the grammar target?

It targets intermediate and advanced students and covers the morphology and syntax of educated speech and plain prose in Spain and Latin America at the end of the twentieth century.

How does the preface describe the unity of Spanish across regions?

It emphasizes that Spanish is less unified than some other languages, because its correctness and usage are shaped by consensus among many independent, widely scattered countries.

What debates about “correct Spanish” are highlighted?

The text notes disputes about what constitutes correct Spanish, including resistance to shifts since the end of Franco’s dictatorship and ongoing debates over linguistic norms.

Oct 12, 2026

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