workbook answer disagreement

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spqr
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workbook answer disagreement

Post by spqr »

Chapter 8 English to Latin translation no.2. Wheelock gives answer as Civitas tyrannos Graeco numquam gratias aget. My answer is .......gratias numquam aget. This might be considered by some nitpicking but Wheelock always says to use " standard word order" and in that context wouldn't my translation be the "correct" one? Paul

Qimmik
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Re: workbook answer disagreement

Post by Qimmik »

Your answer is correct, but so is Wheelock's. Wheelock's treats gratias aget as a single concept. "Always use normal word order" is a rule of thumb for beginners, but in fact Latin word order is very flexible. Because the syntactic function of Latin words is indicated by inflexional endings, Latin word order, to a greater extent than a language with few inflexions like English, uses word order to emphasis and similar stylistic considerations.

peterscot423
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Re: workbook answer disagreement

Post by peterscot423 »

You are totally right, But you should have always used normal word order.

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