iCake--A thousand thanks. That's a big help. I'll have a couple more questions later today when I have time to write.

impulse--I'm working my way through a grammar book, Russian by Ben T. Clark. It's an old book, from 1983, and 600 pages long, but it's very detailed. There are 27 chapters and it takes me about a month to get through each one. It has been a year and a half I've been at this; I hope by the end of the year I'll be through and have a good base to work from to do some conversation, writing, reading, etc.

Z