Adjectives and lists.

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wibbleypants
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Adjectives and lists.

Post by wibbleypants »

Salvate.

I'm at chapter 6, sententiae, no. 7.

Patria Romanorum erat plena Graecorum librorum statuarumque pulchrarum.

I translated it as the adjective applying to both list items, but the key has pulchrarum only applying to the statues and not the books. I kind of felt that the -que made the pair "as one" and therefore both beautiful.

Is there a rule?

Cheers.

porphyrios
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Re: Adjectives and lists.

Post by porphyrios »

What's the gender of librorum? And what's the gender of statuarum? Now check the gender of pulchrarum.

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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Adjectives and lists.

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

It's also a fact that when an adjective modifies a series, the author will often make it agree with the nearest noun.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter

Cuncta mortalia incerta...

porphyrios
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Re: Adjectives and lists.

Post by porphyrios »

Barry Hofstetter wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 3:14 pm It's also a fact that when an adjective modifies a series, the author will often make it agree with the nearest noun.
True, but I hesitate to read this particular sentence that way given that (1) it's a textbook and (2) we have an ABBA structure (adjective-noun-noun-adjective), so not a straightforward series.

wibbleypants
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Re: Adjectives and lists.

Post by wibbleypants »

porphyrios wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:42 pm What's the gender of librorum? And what's the gender of statuarum? Now check the gender of pulchrarum.
Oops. I should have known (el libro, la estatua).

I seem to have been Mr. Thicko.

Cheers.

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