Should quam be more appropriate instead of the first et below?
Instead of:
Tu es mendax peior, mi amice, et Plauto et Terentio!
This:
Tu es mendax peior, mi amice, quam Plauto et Terentio!
I understand that "et" can be used as "than" as well.
Also, "et Plauto et Terentio!", was translated as "than both Plautus and Terence! " seems like a stretch to add the word "both" in the translation. Don't tell me that you can translate a single "et" into "than both" cause this will surely throw me for a loop.
As you can tell, I am scraching my head....
quam or et for "than"?
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Re: quam or et for "than"?
Et... et... is what means "both... and...".NelsonN wrote:Should quam be more appropriate instead of the first et below?
Instead of:
Tu es mendax peior, mi amice, et Plauto et Terentio!
The "than" comes from the Ablative of Comparison.
This is redundant, as you should either choose quam or Ablative of Comparison. Your two choices are:This:
Tu es mendax peior, mi amice, quam Plauto et Terentio!
1.) ...et Plauto et Terentio!
2.) ...quam et Plautus et Terentius!
The et has nothing to do with "than"; the "both...and..." statement was grammatically entirely separate from the comparison.
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae
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Re: quam or et for "than"?
OK. I re-read my dictionary again. Looks like I made a mistake when I was reading the definition of "et."benissimus wrote:The et has nothing to do with "than"; the "both...and..." statement was grammatically entirely separate from the comparison.
Thanks.