composition.

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gigas phoberos
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composition.

Post by gigas phoberos »

can anyone recommend a good book on Latin composition?

thanks

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paulusnb
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Re: composition.

Post by paulusnb »

Bradley's Arnold is a difficult standard http://www.amazon.com/Bradleys-Arnold-L ... 766&sr=8-1

North and Hilllard's Latin Prose Comp. is my rec. http://www.amazon.com/Latin-Prose-Compo ... 810&sr=8-1
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Damoetas
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Re: composition.

Post by Damoetas »

Yes: I think the text and explanations in Bradley's Arnold are excellent, but the problem is that the exercises do not help you practice what you've learned. They instantly start flinging the most strange and difficult twists imaginable at you; no one ever "does" something, they "would be willing to do" it, or "might venture to dare to do" it, with the result that you sometimes get four or five layers of embedded clauses within a single sentence. It seems like the purpose of the exercises is to trick the students into making mistakes, so their old British schoolmaster can smack them down and tell them how stupid they are.

So, Bradley's Arnold is certainly worth having around. Read through portions of it, or grab it for reference next time you forget what happens to the apodosis of a counterfactual sentence in indirect discourse; but if you want to get practice and actually learn how to write Latin, use something else as your primary textbook.
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ptolemyauletes
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Re: composition.

Post by ptolemyauletes »

I used Bennett's New Latin Grammar and Composition at University, and I have used them for the last few years teaching. Pretty useful books, as they follow Caesar and Cicero as models. Lots of example sentences, some not the best, others quite good, and plenty of practice passages.
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paulusnb
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Re: composition.

Post by paulusnb »

Damoetas wrote:I think the text and explanations in Bradley's Arnold are excellent, but the problem is that the exercises do not help you practice what you've learned. They instantly start flinging the most strange and difficult twists imaginable at you; no one ever "does" something, they "would be willing to do" it, or "might venture to dare to do" it, with the result that you sometimes get four or five layers of embedded clauses within a single sentence. It seems like the purpose of the exercises is to trick the students into making mistakes, so their old British schoolmaster can smack them down and tell them how stupid they are.
This is the best explanation of Bradley's Arnold I have ever read.
When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him. ~Swift

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Re: composition.

Post by edonnelly »

paulusnb wrote:North and Hilllard's Latin Prose Comp. is my rec. http://www.amazon.com/Latin-Prose-Compo ... 810&sr=8-1
North and Hillard is quite good. I would also add that you can download it right here from textkit:

http://www.textkit.com/learn/ID/151/author_id/11/

along with the all-important key:

http://www.textkit.com/learn/ID/160/author_id/11/
The lists:
G'Oogle and the Internet Pharrchive - 1100 or so free Latin and Greek books.
DownLOEBables - Free books from the Loeb Classical Library

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Scribo
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Re: composition.

Post by Scribo »

I was thinking about starting some Latin PC, but then atm the sentences in Wheelock's are smacking me down.

Cognoscabam de inceptens pauci "prose composition" in lingua latina sed deinde sententiae Veloksis....ah screw it, I give up...
(Occasionally) Working on the following tutorials:

(P)Aristotle, Theophrastus and Peripatetic Greek
Intro Greek Poetry
Latin Historical Prose

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