Foundations of Standard Arabic

This book is Part III of the Foundations of Standard Arabic series. It is direct continuation of the first two parts, builds upon them, and begins from the point reached by the student at the end of part II.

This part aims to provide the student with the skill to read advanced texts from the Arabic press and with the tools to read other texts as well. It addresses grammatical issues encountered in modern texts more complex than political press reports, and provides a broad and varied vocabulary, covering a range of fields beyond the political domain. Advancing gradually but rapidly through a range of grammatical and syntactic issues, the book furnishes the student with the ability to tackle complex texts and read them quickly and smoothly. It stresses throughout the inculcation of standard modern Arabic as used today in the printed and electronic media.

As in the first two parts, the study method is based on learning Arabic in Arabic in order to develop the full complement of skills (reading, writing and speaking), deepen the student's familiarity with the language and inculcate the vocabulary. The grammatical explanations are precise and stress the learning of correct standard usage, but are sensitive to the changing and dynamic nature of contemporary Arabic.

The structure of the book is modular, making it possible to study the various grammatical issues in any order, independently of the texts.