Spanish Composition

This book aims to teach Spanish idiom. The greatest hindrance to the use of idiomatic Spanish lies in the failure to realize that common English words have various Spanish meanings. To meet this difficulty, the notes and exercises of Spanish Composition are focused on the errors beginners most frequently make. For instance, attention is drawn to the fact that words like up, down, out, in, away are usually included in the Spanish verb, which is often entirely different from the English expression. Thus, while "to get" is obtener, "to get up" is levantarse. Of course the treatment cannot be exhaustive, but enough examples are given to show the pupil the necessity of thinking before translating even the commonest words and phrases. The aim has been to give a simple and specific discussion of everyday expressions rather than to try to cover the entire field of Spanish idiom.