Répertoire des difficultés du français: vérifier, comprendre, appliquer par Stéphanie Callet (review)

Callet, Stéphanie. Répertoire des difficultés du français: vérifier, comprendre, appliquer. Grenoble: PU de Grenoble, 2013. ISBN 978-2-706-11799-2. Pp. 221. 15 a. Presented in dictionary format, this book is a practical tool for native and nonnative speakers of French and most especially for learners of French at the Common European Framework of Reference levels of A1 (beginner) to C2 (advanced). It lists and explains in a clear and easy-to-follow format the most common difficulties one encounters with French grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. Each entry begins with “Observation,” a series of sample sentences that highlight the specific item under examination. Then follows“Comprendre,”detailed explanations with further illustrative examples on correct usage.For example,when comparing the use of the prepositions dans/sans/à, Callet clarifies:“On utilise en général la préposition‘dans’quand on parle d’un volume. Dans le journal, dans le livre, dans le magazine” (7). Then: “On utilise la préposition ‘sur’ quand on parle d’une surface. Sur Internet (on considère la page web), sur l’ordinateur (on considère l’écran), sur la page” (7). And: “On utilise la préposition ‘à’ quand on fait référence à la télévision et à la radio” (8). For this entry, Callet is careful to elucidate the use of dans when speaking of radio or television programs, such as “dans une émission” or “dans le journal de 20 heures” (8). Each entry finishes with a short exercise (on average five or six questions).Via the use of the answer key found at the end of the manual, one is able to verify that the item in question is understood. While the aim of the exercise is to ensure that any prior misunderstanding has been resolved, some of the exercises are much better than others. For example, for the entry on the prepositions dans/sur/à, the exercise involves the crossing out of any sentence that is incorrect. While this is a straightforward activity and the answer key shows the sentences to be crossed out, the answer key does not provide any explanation as to why one sentence is crossed out or not. For the advanced learner of French, this may not pose a problem but for a beginning student, it may be more difficult to determine which part of the sentence is in incorrect French. Such is the case with the entry on “aller et venir” where the first exercise question offers the sentence combination of “Je vais au cinéma ce soir. Tu vas avec moi?” (195). For the beginning learner, it would be helpful to know that this sentence combination needs to be crossed out because of the incorrect usage of “aller” in “Tu vas avec moi?” and not because of this same verb’s usage in “Je vais au cinéma ce soir.” Other types of exercises include fill-in-the-blank with a choice between two items under study and sentences with a blank that may or may not need to have an item added. Despite the concern with the lack of explanations for the exercises, Callet has created a useful reference for one wanting to perfect his/her French. Canisius College (NY) Eileen M. Angelini 226 FRENCH REVIEW 89.1 ...