I need advice on how to take the National Latin Exam, please

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Shazad
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I need advice on how to take the National Latin Exam, please

Post by Shazad »

ok, i'm taking the final exam for my latin class next monday, one week from now. and our teacher has told us that our exam will be an old Latin III Prose National Latin Exam. So i've been looking at some of the old exams and i have really no idea on how to get certain types of questions. the type of questions that seem to give me the most trouble are the ones that give you most of the sentence in latin and then wants you to translate a piece into english, for example:

They came to watch the parade

A) ad pompam spectandam
B) spectantes pompam
C) pompa spectata
D) quod pompam spectaverunt

How do I go about answering these types of questions? what should i be looking for and doing first? Also, I'm guessing the right answer would be pompa spectata, because its ablative?... i'm not really sure though

another type of question that gives me A LOT of trouble are the ones where it gives you the entire sentence in latin but then leaves out one word, for example:

Romani rogabant cur Caesar in Gallia

A) fuerat
B) erat
C) esset
D) est

ok i have really no idea how to answer this question, can someone give me tips for approaching these types of questions?

Any and all advice given is appreciated...

spiphany
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Post by spiphany »

For this type of thing, what you need to do is think about the structure of the sentence, and figure out what function the phrase or word has in it.

In the first example, "to watch the parade" is explaining why they came. It's a purpose clause. Then you have to think about how purpose is expressed in Latin. There are several ways of doing this: ut + subjunctive, or ad + a gerund or gerundive.
Alternately, you can look at the choices you're given and decide what construction each of the phrases is using. You should be able to eliminate the fourth choice almost immediately, for example, since quod ("because") introduces a causal clause and that isn't what the English says at all. The second choice has the same tense as the main verb, so it would suggest "They came while watching the parade" or something like that, which isn't what you want either.

In the second example, you need to supply the correct verb form for a dependent clause. To figure out what kind of dependent clause it is, look for key words in the sentence which will give you a clue about what follows -- here they are rogabant ("they asked") and cur ("why"). This suggests that what you have is an indirect question. If you remember your rules of syntax, you know that this always takes a subjunctive, which rules out three of the options immediately.
You can also work backwards again from the options you're given and think about which ones make sense, even if you don't remember exactly what construction is used with an indirect question (or even what it's called). The main verb is in the past tense, and subordinate clauses in Latin tend to be influenced by the tense of the main verb. So a present tense, est, probably doesn't make sense.

I don't know how much that helps you with solving these kinds of problems in general, but that's the best way I can think of to explain the process I go through when I do multiple choice problems. I figure out what I know, and try to fit the options I'm given into the gaps.
IPHIGENIE: Kann uns zum Vaterland die Fremde werden?
ARKAS: Und dir ist fremd das Vaterland geworden.
IPHIGENIE: Das ist's, warum mein blutend Herz nicht heilt.
(Goethe, Iphigenie auf Tauris)

Chris Weimer
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Post by Chris Weimer »

The first question you need to answer with something that conveys purpose. "to watch the parade" is a purpose statement - thus A is your answer. The second statement you should know from sequence of tenses and indirect questions. IQs take the subjunctive. Since the main verb is imperfect, the secondary verb will be either imperfect or perfect. Since perfect isn't available, use the imperfect "esset".

Edited - looks like someone beat me to it. :P

bellum paxque
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Post by bellum paxque »

I'll add my support to spiphany's advice: analyze the constructions. If you're having trouble with that, here's another option. You could approach the first question, even if you're not quite sure which construction is at work, by translating each of the four choices. Then substitute each one for the relevant phrase and see which one is closest.

Of course, this presumes you know the vocabulary... I can't really help you with that!

bonam fortunam tibi habeas, et nos certiores de examinis eventu fac!

David

Shazad
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Post by Shazad »

thanks for the help guys. i never thought of looking for constructions to narrow choices down... yes, i'm that bad at latin (it's my worst subject)

i need help with a different type of question now... how do i know when to use a qui, quid, quam, quod, [insert qu- word]? they all look like they mean the same thing in the dictionary...

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Post by nostos »

I had the same problem when I first encountered qu-words.

If you like I can email you a section of an old book I was writing before I'd known about the brilliance of doc Ørberg. It has several typos and places where it ain't too clear, but perhaps it'll help, perhaps it won't; I'm not even sure about the whole section on quam - this is old and unrevised.

Chris Weimer
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Post by Chris Weimer »

quis, quae, quid (and qui quae quod) are pronouns and decline normally like nouns or adjectives. Of course quis, quam, quod are going to mean the same in English. There are a couple of rules, though:

Quis and quid are interrogative (they ask a question) while qui and quod are relative (they start a clause). Quam is oftentimes not an adjective, most common when it's an adverb (quam magnus! how big it is!) and quod can also mean "because". These are simply things you'll have to memorize.

Shazad
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Post by Shazad »

why is the sentence Cena servis paranda est translated as: the dinner must be prepared by the slaves instead of the dinner was prepared by the slaves?

EDIT: also how do i decline names? like cicero

Shazad
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Post by Shazad »

someone please help...

edonnelly
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Post by edonnelly »


The lists:
G'Oogle and the Internet Pharrchive - 1100 or so free Latin and Greek books.
DownLOEBables - Free books from the Loeb Classical Library

Shazad
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Post by Shazad »

thanks :)

edonnelly
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Post by edonnelly »

Good luck, and report back to let us know how it goes.
The lists:
G'Oogle and the Internet Pharrchive - 1100 or so free Latin and Greek books.
DownLOEBables - Free books from the Loeb Classical Library

Shazad
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Post by Shazad »

thanks for the luck edonnely. i took the exam yesterday (monday) and found out my grade today. I got a B (86/100) on it so that's pretty good considering how poor my latin skill are.

but now i find out i have a summer assignment for AP Latin where i have to read book one of the aeneid translate parts and scan it... they shouldn't give kids work over the summer!

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