Product Details
- Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.
This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries.
)
Format: Color
Rated: NR
Studio: Cerebellum Corp.
DVD Release Date: January 4, 2000
ASIN: 1581983123
Average Customer Review:
Based on 3 reviews.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
English grammar is serious stuff, and there's only so
much that can be done to make it entertaining. But the Standard Deviants, an
energetic troupe of young performers whose specialty is making serious
academic subjects engaging, happily dive into what they call "The
Split-Infinitive World of English Grammar." The lessons on this DVD have
been prepared by a panel of serious academics, but flashy graphics abound.
And the performers do their best to liven up presentations of basic
concepts. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech are explained
with some offbeat examples (for instance, a film of a lizard is used to
demonstrate why "gecko" is a common noun). While introducing a section on
verbals, a young woman mentions that a "funky thing" verbs can do is
function as other parts of speech. Eventually all parts of speech are
covered, and basic sentence structures are introduced. At the end of each
set of lessons a quiz is presented, which a student can either take or skip.
After proceeding through all the lessons on this DVD (which contains about
two hours worth of material), a student can take the "Gram Slam," a
comprehensive exam. English grammar will never be a barrel of fun, but the
Standard Deviants deserve credit for making this review course as engaging
as the subject is ever likely to get. --Robert J. McNamara
Description
Includes such topics as: SEAE: Standard Edited American
English, parts of speech, nouns, adjectives, verbs, verb tenses, gerund,
infinitive, present participle, past participle, adverbs, prepositions,
conjunctions, interjections, simple sentence, phrase etc.
All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
10 of 10 people found the
following review helpful:
Good for Review of the Basics of Grammar, October 22, 2004
This DVD takes you at a rapid speed through the basics of grammar. There
are three more DVDs in this series that deal with grammar and punctuation.
The DVD may be best used perhaps for a review of grammar -
to brush up on what you know.
If you're starting from scratch,
it may also been a solid introduction - getting acquainted with
the elements of grammar. If words like "adverbs" or "adjectives" sound like
mystical language to you - they will be demystified here.
On the other hand, if you're struggling with conjugating irregular verbs,
you'll still have to pick a good grammar book and to memorize the verbs you
don't know.
And, as a matter of fact, this DVD is best used in conjunction with a good
grammar book. DVD only helps to learn and memorize areas of grammar faster,
but it does not replace the need to work separately on the areas that may be
challenging for you.
6 of 6 people found the
following review helpful:
I beg to differ... all flash, no substance., April 28, 2004
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A viewer (Huntington, NY) |
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Good luck remembering anything you were "taught" in this program! There's
no structure, no method. The stuff is just "thrown out at you" and you're
supposed to absorb it somehow. The kids are cute, and some of the jokes were
kinda funny, but I found myself having to watch it over and over, trying to
figure out what they were trying to teach me. If you really want to learn
grammar, look for something more instructional.
--This text refers to the
DVD edition
20 of 30 people found the
following review helpful:
Great use of DVD, May 27, 2000
This series is an excellent use of DVD. You can more around, take quizzes
and a final exam that is pretty cool. These guys and girls (who look good)
take you through the boring stuff with some flair. I recommend these to
anyone needing help in Grammar.
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