This book approaches its subject of Arabic writing and composition by looking at the discrete entities, including vocabulary, grammar, and transformations, which together comprise style. Assuming that different areas of writing require different styles, it presents examples of such areas (expressing time, instructions, physical descriptions, and so on), and for each example the relevant stylistic elements—vocabulary, grammar, and transformations—are outlined. The book, entirely in Arabic, is clear and logical, and is aimed at intermediate to advanced levels, although, with the assistance of a teacher, students at elementary levels will also find much of interest.

While most courses in Egyptian Arabic teach the essentials of syntax, morphology, and vocabulary, this second in a series of three books takes the student a step beyond and focuses on colorful expressions used by native speakers. The learner will advance from knowing how to form a good sentence to being able to express his or her thoughts about the ups and downs of daily life using culturally appropriate phrases. Following the first volume which highlighted the many expressions used to describe people, their characteristics, their behaviors, and their attitudes, this second volume focuses on proverbs and their use. Each entry is given fully voweled, and definitions (including connotation) and explanations are given in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. The book also contains a large number of exercises.