Latin Composition

I was going through this thread, and I was paying attention to the Latin Composition books you guys have (especially Benissimus, you seem to have several). Now, I was wondering which books you guys have used for composition, and which ones you think are most benefitial. Right now, I’m working through Latin Prose Composition, North and Hillard, available at Textkit. I’m barely in the 14th exercise, and it’s already proving itself to be helpful. I find I enjoy writing Latin. :wink:

well, I have used N&H the most, but I do not like it much because the sort of sentences given are not much more difficult than those that you would translate in a normal textbook, thus it didn’t feel (to me at least) like a step up. I do not have very extensive experiences with that text however. I am fond of Henry Carr Pearson’s book available here, because it blends advanced instruction of idiom and peculiar grammar with prose composition, and it imitates Cicero rather than Caesar, meaning you don’t have to memorize military terminology (if you don’t want to). if you have a preference in which author you would like to emulate, that will of course have an impact on your choice of book. I hear the Bradley’s Arnold book is quite good. North & Hillard’s is unfortunately the only one for which we currently have a key, so that alone may be enough reason to use it, though I myself am willing to correct at least a few assignments a week, and other quicker members usually deny me even that :laughing:

Bradley’s Arnold is the best. B&C is about to release a newly typeset (and edited, I believe) edition.

Thanks, Benissimus.
I took a look at Pearson’s book, and it’s true what you say. This one seems to go more in depth, and tries to cover nearly every usage, which is good. However, as you say, having the answer key for the N&H book makes it more attractive.
Now, you say you have used N&H. Let me ask you: do you do all the exercises, or just set A or set B? I’ve thought that doing both sets would be ideal because it would give me more than enough practice. At the same time, though, it’s way more time consuming, so this way, it could take longer to get to the later sections. I’ve also considered doing just set A, and saving set B for additional occasional practice.

I would recommend doing both sets only if you are having trouble with the material. While practicing with things you already know is beneficial, it is usually more efficient to practice those things you already know while you practice with new things. So if it is an easy lesson, you should probably only do one set so you can go on to the next lesson quickly. If the lesson is difficult, you should become as familiar with it as possible so that it ceases to be difficult. I never ran into any difficult lessons in N&H however, but maybe I just didn’t go far enough.