I am using Practical Spanish Grammar to study Spanish. As with all textbooks there are mistakes and stuff that just does not make sense without a teacher there to ‘fill in the blanks’ that slip in despite the author’s and publisher’s best efforts. Many thanks must go to those who have answered many of my questions when I run across these things. Most helpful have been the members of the How To Learn Any Language Forum.

I will continue to update this page to collect in one place an ‘errata’ page.

Lesson 1

Practique A, Page 3

• 16. Spanish cognate for tourist: ______

Unlike the other 17 words in the list, this one is not in the vocabulary list nor is it even in the dictionary at the back of the book

Practique B, Page 3

• 3. Spanish equivalent for taste: ______

The book has the answer as ‘gusto’ but it should be sabor.

Lesson 6

Vocabulary, Page 90

Grammar III, Table A, Page 103

Third person ’su/su/suyo/suyos’ row does not mention formal 2nd person singular or plural ‘your/yours’ .

Lesson 7

Practique C, Page 110

• U. Cuando hablamos de ocho días queremos decir una (semana)
  see explanation below

Exercise B, Page 114

• 9. Ocho días es (una semana).

It might appear that Lesson 7 is trying hard to teach that there are 8 days in a week. After thinking this was an error, I found out this is a Spanish idiom.
I still consider this is an errata - No mention is made of this idiom in the ‘Notas’ (as he does do for other idioms). If the author had, it would be acceptable, but to include this as a ‘test’ question in a book designed for ’self-study’ without explanation is a mistake that an editor should have caught.

Lesson 8

Practice B, Page 129

• 10. Para (merendar) prefiero fruto o café.

Para merendar = for snacking
Although correct Spanish, the author does not mention being able to use the infinitive in this way. And as an English speaker this sentence seems real awkward. “For a snack I prefer fruit or coffee” sounds much more correct than “For snacking I prefer fruit or coffee”

Exercise B, Page 134

• 11. Si estás a dieta de vegetales no debes comer ____.
  A. verduras
  B. grasas
  C. más
  D. guisantes

The answer is grasas but why is más is in the list? My thoughts are that for a multiple choice question such as this, 3 of the 4 items should be ‘correct’, ie, foods that vegetarians eat. Possibly maíz (which was in the vocabulary list for this lesson) was meant?

Lesson 9

Vocabulary, Page 145

• descubrir “to discover” is misspelled “descrubrir”

Exercise D, Page 148

• 6. Los bancos (aumentar) los intereses con las buenas noticias económicas.

The instructions say to use Preterite tense, but the answer in the book, aumentan, is Present tense. The answer should be ‘aumentaron’.

Exercise B, Page 158

• 7. ti / caer / dos / billete / de / cinco / dólar

The instructions are to form a present indicative sentence using the words in the order given, adding any necessary words. The answer in the book is: 7. A ti se te cayeron dos billetes de cinco dólares
But, cayeron is the preterite tense not present indicative. The answer should instead be caen.

Exercise A, Page 161

• 12. A ella le (gustar) hacer ejercicios aeróbicos.

Directions: Use correct imperfect tense form of the verb given.
Book Answer: gustaba
My thoughts are that ‘gustar’ should agree with the plural ‘ejercicios’. Therefore the answer should be ‘gustaban’ but am informed that gustar needs to agree with ‘hacer’ and not ‘ejercicios’.

‘Le gustaban los ejercicios’.
‘Le gustaba hacer (algo)’.

Appears this is another missing grammar lesson that is not ‘taught’ in this self-help book and yet is part of the ’self check’ exercises.