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Grimm Grammar characters: The Bremer Travelling Musicians

Herzlich Willkommen im Lande der Grimm Grammar!

Welcome to Grimm Grammar, an irreverent revival and shameless exploitation of 19th-century Grimm Fairy Tales for honorable pedagogical purposes.  Fortunately for you, Dear Reader, thirty-six characters from these fairy tales have returned to 21st century Germany (their precise location cannot be revealed for privacy reasons) to model all things grammatical ... anything the most eager language learner may wish to know about the German language.

Grimm Grammar weaves the original fairy tales into the imaginary lives of these characters today, as they try to make sense of modern day inventions such as the alarm clock – very helpful to an aging rooster, for example – not to mention the automobile or the airplane.

Snow White, her prince Thilo, and the seven dwarves, among other characters, tirelessly present parts of speech from adjectives (very exciting!) to verbs (to fascinate you!).  They model these grammatical concepts through – what they consider – witty dialogs and poignant narratives, supported by audio files and illustrations that help make each grammar point a bit more memorable.  Audio recordings utilize the talents of over thirty native and near-native speakers of a variety of German dialects.  Their diverse choices in sound, lexicon and grammar showcase the immense richness of the German language(s).  Grimm Grammar intentionally does not utilize only standard German.

The primary audience for Grimm Grammar is the beginning language learner.  Each part of speech – e.g., adjective, adverb, noun, verb – is introduced by a sectional overview, and then further explained in relevant, thoroughly cross-referenced sub-topics: e.g., articles, the past tense of regular verbs, etc. 

Grimm Grammar characters: Thilo and Snow White

Grammar descriptions in English/German and self-correcting exercises promote the understanding of grammar concepts through plausible communicative contexts – what someone might actually say in real life – using predominantly discourse-length language samples.

This online grammar reference was created for lower-division language courses at the University of Texas, but any beginning or intermediate learner of German may use it completely free of charge, as long as he or she is willing to take a trip to the imaginary world of Grimm Grammar ... the characters of which are grumpy and gorgeous, scary and smarmy, witty and wicked!

And now, Dear Reader, pack your cognitive bags and take a trip to Schloßallee 18, the magnificently restored medieval castle where thirty-six Grimm Brothers fairy tale characters leave behind their 19th century urges and try to cope with the complex demands of the 21st century.  Let the grammar begin ...

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