CH3 P&R #3. Why in apposition?

[Kimble]

[anphph]

It can not be an apposite because it has nothing to be apposited to. For it to be subject the commas would have to be out. It looks like a vocative to me.

Any more thoughts?

[tjnor]

Sapientiam amIcArum, fIlia mea, semper laudat

fIlia mea is certainly in the nominative case and is therefore the subject of the verb laudat. So you have (in English) "My daughter always praises....what?. Well, since sapientiam amIcArum is in the accusative it is the object of the verb (it receives the action). You have been led astray by the concept of apposition. It doesn't apply here since there is no other noun phrase in the nominative. You may be confused about the function of laudat. While a conjugated verb may stand alone and suggest its subject, you have an explicit subject here: fIlia mea.

[bellumbellum]

[bedwere]

In my not so humble opinion this is a botched phrase that only confuses the student instead of helping him learn Latin.

"laudat" is 3rd person singular present indicative active, and, if you consider "mea filia" as vocative, then it should have been "lauda", 2nd person singular imperative.

I think you may be confusing the nominative and the vocative case.

In your sentence ' sapientiam amicarum, filia mea, semper laudat.'

sapientiam obviously is in the accusative case
amicarum in the genitive showing possession of sapientiam,
filia mea in the VOCATIVE case
semper laudat complete the predicate

this would be translated as , "My daughter, always praise the wisdom of [your] friends."

This is how i would approach this sentence. The commas encasing filia mea are kind of an indicator of the vocative case.

:

[anphph]

In my not so humble opinion this is a botched phrase that only confuses the student instead of helping him learn Latin.

Very likely you're right.

"laudat" is 3rd person singular present indicative active, and, if you consider "mea filia" as vocative, then it should have been "lauda", 2nd person singular imperative.

Not necessarily. It can be a simple statement, addressing a specific person, as opposed to an order, and with an implicit subject (deduced from context).

[bedwere]

Well, I guess you can argue that. But this seems to me the Latin equivalent of All your base are belong to us

[xando]

In my edition of Wheelock (6th edition, revised), the sentence appears as this:

Sapientam amicarum, O filia mea, semper laudat.

This would clearly seem to indicate the vocative is intended.