This is an excelent book. Having gone through a course in elementary Japanese, I wanted a book to quickly review the basic grammar and speech patterns. This little book does a marvelous job. It explains all the main patterns concisely, yet sufficiently. The organization and clarity of the book are its main assets. There is a detailed index at the beginning of the book, containing key examples of the pattern. That way you can jump right to the page you need. At the end of the book there are handy appendices (with examples) on counters (some 25 of them), plus charts on adjective inflections and verb conjugations. All in alphabetical english order. Every pattern, or variation, is clearly explained with 3 examples. This is followed by 3 more examples for you to try. Then, the answers are given in smaller print. All examples are given in Japanese characters plus romaji transliteration. Every unit has a few new words of vocabulary, which are then used in the examples that follow. I admired the economy of this book. Nothing is superfluous. And yet, everything is sufficient, within the constraints of its size. It is published by Kodansha International, not Oxford University Press as the Amazon description says. Very few books on Japanese language instruction are suitable for self study. This one clearly is.