In Orberg LLPSI he has: 'Marcus magistrum scribere animadvertit eumque interrogat: "Quid tu scribis, magister?"
I would have written this 'Marcus magistrum scribentem animadvertit....' Why is 'scribere' in the present infinitive? Surely it's a participle and should be written 'scribentem'?? Or is this some version of infinitive + accusative...but it doesn't make sense to me because that's only used when the action is being reported or commented on by a third person: Marcus 'magistrum scribere' dicit.
Marcus magistrum scribere (?)
- furrykef
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Re: Marcus magistrum scribere (?)
Mārcus magistrum scrībere animadvertit: "Marcus notices that the teacher is writing"pmda wrote:In Orberg LLPSI he has: 'Marcus magistrum scribere animadvertit eumque interrogat: "Quid tu scribis, magister?"
I would have written this 'Marcus magistrum scribentem animadvertit....' Why is 'scribere' in the present infinitive? Surely it's a participle and should be written 'scribentem'??
Mārcus magistrum scrībentem animadvertit: "Marcus notices the writing teacher", or maybe "Marcus notices the teacher as he writes"
Does this help? Compare e.g. "Videō tē scrībere", "I see that you are writing".
- Kef
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Re: Marcus magistrum scribere (?)
Thanks furrykef - that makes perfect sense.
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Re: Marcus magistrum scribere (?)
The acc. + inf. construction isn't just for speech, but also for various types of perception and mental action. It's found pretty much anywhere where in English you say "he [verb] that", e.g., he saw that..., he heard that..., he imagined that..., he thought that..., he knew that..., he hoped that..., he discovered that..., he threatened that..., he promised that..., etc. It's very common.
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Re: Marcus magistrum scribere (?)
Thanks Craig...very helpful..