Hi!
i’ve been given a homework assignment, and i have to translate a paragraph: i was doing quite well, until i came to a phrase “As they approached, the lieutenant went out and asked them about the fight.”
i was thinking of using the ablative absolute, so it would translate as “while they were approaching”, seeing as this would give basically the same meaning. however, i have been unable to discover whether the present participle of “appropinquare” should have a singular or plural ablative ending, or no ablative ending at all, at the moment i have:
“eis appropinquante, legatus egressus est, et de proelium rogavit.”
or am i completely wrong? 
afternoon philo,
the ablative would have to agree in number with those approaching, so in this case be in the plural appropinquantibus. you might want to consider swapping the ablative absolute (what at secondary we used to call affectionately “ab-labs”) for an accusative participle serving as the object of the lieutenant’s asking, that is, translating ‘the lieutenant went out and asked them approaching (eos appropinquantes) about the fight’.
i’m very glad to hear you’re doing prose comp. which school are you at?
~D
Oohh… thats a very good idea! thank you very much!
I’m in year 13, at bexley grammar school in Kent…
glad to see you’re at a grammar.
are you planning on reading classics at uni?
~D
Possibly, it is a definite second choice, if i dont get into medicine anywhere. i will be applying for one classics place at King’s university.
what about you? are you doing classics?
yeah i’m going into my second year of reading classics at christ’s, cam. i’m sad to see classics stands as a mere backup! in fact, i met a (half-ukranian) girl last year who was reading medicine at kcl and wished, retrospectively, that she had chosen to do classics. read into that what you will!
~D
Hmm… i really would prefer to do medicine: as i feel much more passionatly about it than classics, and, thinking about it, it is much easier to find a career in medicine than classics, it seems…
but if i could do whatever i wanted, i would choose classics, but i’d prefer to do something that aids people, rather than doing what i enjoy more…but it depends on how i feel in a few months, i suppose…