This is one of those books that promises a lot but falls short of its target. How Oxford Press expect you to believe that such a slim volume can cover ALL the key points of Japanese grammar is laughable. Certainly, it does cover many points, but half of of these are skimmed over, and examples are very limited. Plus, spelling mistakes (both in English and Japanese) abound to such an extent that I began to wonder if the proof readers for this book were the author's pet koi carp.

The pro's of this book are that when it gets it right, it's bang on. The language is very clear and understandable, and when something is explained, you know exactly where you are. What is more, the more complicated grammar that is covered is done so in such a way that it doesn't seem difficult. Also, if you simply want to get a feel for Japanese grammar in general, so that you can research it further through other books or websites, then this book is perfect. It may only provide you with a basic grasp of the language, but it's certainly enough to get you started.

This book does a good job laying out the grammatical rules, and explains them fairly clearly, but it is definitely geared toward those who already know some Japanese. A great deal of the book is in kanji, including some of the words they're explaining to you. Some of the examples have kanji and romanji to help you, but the author expects you to already have a solid grasp of the writing system. He leaves many words and examples untranslated, which makes it harder to grasp the concept for those who don't know any kanji, like myself. Even so, it's fairly understandable, and those who don't know kanji can still learn from it, albeit with a little more difficulty. I think it is a good resource, but I would recommend it for people who have already learned some Japanese.

This book performs exactaly as advertised, it is an extremely valuable and concise suppliment to your perfered metheod of mastering japanese.

This book will really help fill the gaps in your education left behind by professors who insist on spoonfeeding you little bits of information without explaining the whole story.

It is well organized and delivers in plain easy to understand english, information on many (if not most) japanese gramatical concepts. I've used several more expensive books on topics like particals and verbs and I like this book much better.

It's also small, inexpensive and contains less romanji than many other references.