N&H Prose Composition, preliminary exercises

Latin Learning Latin
1

Ok, so after finally overcoming Moreland & Fleischer a few months ago, I’ve decided it’s about time that I deepen my Latin knowledge with a composition book. So I’m doing N&H Prose Composition, but since the answer key doesn’t include the preliminary exercises, which I really need for revision, I will post them here hoping anyone would help. So here goes.

Preliminary Exercise A

  1. The land was ruled by a good king.
    Terra ab rege bonō regebātur/recta est.

  2. The soldier was killed by an arrow.
    miles ab sagittā interficiēbātur/interfectus est.

  3. The boy killed the bird with a stone.
    puer avem lapide interficiēbat/interfecit.

  4. The Roman general was defeated by Hannibal.
    imperator romanus ab Hannibale superabātur/superātus est.

  5. The soldier killed the peasant with a sword.
    miles agricolam cum gladiō interficiēbat/interfecit.

  6. We have been conquered by the enemy.
    ab hostilibus vincebāmur/victī sumus.

  7. The walls were defended by the citizens.
    Murī a civibus defendebantur/defensī sunt.

  8. Our city was built by Romulus.
    Urbs ab Romulō aedificabātur/aedificata est.

  9. The Romans fortified their city with a wall.
    Romanī urbem eōrum murō munibant/munivērunt.

  10. Gaul is separated from Britain by the sea.
    Gallia a Britanniā mare dividitur.

  11. A high wall defends the camp.
    murus altus castrum defendit.

  12. We are loved by our friends, and we love them.
    Ab amicīs amāmur, eōsque amāmus.

  13. We shall not be conquered by the enemy.
    Ab hostilibus nōn vincantur.

  14. The camp is defended by a long wall.
    Castrum a murō longō defenditur.

  15. The citizens defended the city.
    Civēs urbem defendebant/defendērunt.

  16. Cities are defended by the citizens.
    Urbēs a civibus defenduntur.

  17. We have taken the camp.
    Castrum accepimus.

  18. The camp has been taken by us.
    Castrum a nobīs accipiēbātur/acceptum est.

  19. They are teaching the boys.
    Puerōs docent.

  20. The boys are taught by books.
    Puerī librīs docentur.

Thanks!

2

Note: I don’t feel like cross-referencing vocabulary, so I will assume that the words you chose are valid.

  1. The land was ruled by a good king.
    Terra ab rege bonō regebātur/recta est.

Good.

  1. The soldier was killed by an arrow.
    miles ab sagittā interficiēbātur/interfectus est.

Scratch ab - that is only used for people.

3. > The boy killed the bird with a stone.
puer avem lapide interficiēbat/interfecit.

Good, except that I can’t think of any time in which the simple past for this particular phrase would be translated as the imperfect.

  1. The Roman general was defeated by Hannibal.
    imperator romanus ab Hannibale superabātur/superātus est.

Same complaint here as in 3. In 1, the imperfect is conceivable - “The land [while these things were happening] was ruled by a good king” = “The land was being ruled by a good king”. But, the statements in 3 and 4 sound profoundly perfective to me. I suppose some situation could be dreamed up in which they really mean “the boy was killing” and “the Roman general was being defeated”, but I can’t imagine them, standing alone with their English wording, being intended as imperfect.

I won’t mention this complaint again, so that I can focus on other issues.

  1. The soldier killed the peasant with a sword.
    miles agricolam cum gladiō interficiēbat/interfecit.

Just gladio, no cum, unless there is an adjective… or something like that.

  1. We have been conquered by the enemy.
    ab hostilibus vincebāmur/victī sumus.

Hostibus. Also, unlike my earlier complaints about the imperfect, which are debatable, the imperfect is absolutely impermissible here. “We have been” is clearly perfective.

  1. The walls were defended by the citizens.
    Murī a civibus defendebantur/defensī sunt.

Good.

  1. Our city was built by Romulus.
    Urbs ab Romulō aedificabātur/aedificata est.

Good.

  1. The Romans fortified their city with a wall.
    Romanī urbem eōrum murō munibant/munivērunt.

Suam, not eorum.

  1. Gaul is separated from Britain by the sea.
    Gallia a Britanniā mare dividitur.

Mare has an I in the ablative - mari.

  1. A high wall defends the camp.
    murus altus castrum defendit.

Castra, -orum for “camp” - castrum just means “tent”, I think.

  1. We are loved by our friends, and we love them.
    Ab amicīs amāmur, eōsque amāmus.

Good.

  1. We shall not be conquered by the enemy.
    Ab hostilibus nōn vincantur.

Hostibus, vincemur - you had the person and thematic vowel mistaken in the verb. Third and fourth conjugation future indicatives take -a- in the first person singular (agam), but -e- in all other persons (ages, aget, agemus, agetis, agent).

  1. The camp is defended by a long wall.
    Castrum a murō longō defenditur.

Castra muro longo defenduntur

  1. The citizens defended the city.
    Civēs urbem defendebant/defendērunt.

Good

  1. Cities are defended by the citizens.
    Urbēs a civibus defenduntur.

Good.

  1. We have taken the camp.
    Castrum accepimus.

Castra again. Also, accipere is “to accept” or “to receive”, when you really need something meaning “to seize” here.

  1. The camp has been taken by us.
    Castrum a nobīs accipiēbātur/acceptum est.

See my comments on 17.

  1. They are teaching the boys.
    Puerōs docent.

Good.

  1. The boys are taught by books.
    Puerī librīs docentur.

Good.

Thanks!

You’re welcome, glad to be a help!

3

Thanks Sceptra Tenens, this is really helpful. I think I should revise the Latin use of the perfect vs. imperfect, as it is not as in English (not to mention that I made a mistake with the English one in no.6 as well).

In 13 I actually thought that I should use the subjunctive, Craig referred to that in the other thread. Should have been more careful with the person though.

It’s funny that I’ve actually used castra at first, and then changed it all to castrum since I thought the first was a mistake… :astonished:

4

The subjunctive in 13 would mean “let’s not be defeated”, which isn’t all that assertive :wink:

5

  1. The soldier was killed by an arrow.
    miles ab sagittā interficiēbātur/interfectus est.

Scratch > ab > - that is only used for people.

Not to put too fine a point on it, or to sidetrack, but ab can also be used for beings with will, such as animals and gods, right?

6

We shall not be conquered by the enemy.

If the person who composed the sentence 100 years ago (or whenever) is English, “shall” is probably meant to be simple future:
Si anglicus qui sententiam composuit abhinc annos centum (vel quandoque), futurum indicativo modo significat “shall” ut jam dicit Sceptra Tenens:

Ab hostibus non vincemur.

If the person who composed the English 100 years ago (or whenever) is non-English, “shall” is probably emphatic,—a command (expressible as a negative command by the perfect subjunctive with ne):
Aliter, emphaticum vel jussum est,—quod negativum per tempus perfectum modo subjunctivo cum “ne” exprimatur:

Ab hostibus ne vincti simus.

Post scriptum.

OK. I just saw it was N&H (didn’t I read your heading?). North and Hillard are English and 19th-century, so “I shall, you will, he will, we shall, you will, they will” for the future simple.
Grammaticam adhibitam modo animadverti (titulum neglexi!). Anglici auctores, undevicesimi saeculi.

7

Interesting comment about the English, adrianus, thanks. for a non-native English speaker like me this modal verb might sometimes be confusing, I shall (I mean should! Just kidding) revise it.

8

Gods certainly. I really don’t know about animals - I wouldn’t be surprised if it depended on the context.

Adriane: Sum Americanus, at ne momento quidem temporis eam sententiam putavi esse imperativam. Gandalf ad Balrog clamavit “You shall not pass!!11!”, quod certe imperativum fuit, sed hoc “We shall not be defeated” mihi significat “certe non vincemur”. Quia anglicus est, qui scripsit, “non vincemur” sine “certe”.

9

That’s not so far from the emphatic sense I believe I meant, Sceptra Tenens, that I don’t see as very different from a commandment, “Thou shalt not”, or an exhortation. It depends on your tone of voice, perhaps. And maybe I’m not right.
Hoc est sensum emphaticum à me significatum, Sceptra Tenens, quod per accentum simile est jussi vel exhortationis. Forsit nugas dico.

10

Yes, I think it would depend in part on the tone of voice. But, at the time of “thou shalt not”, I believe that “shall/shalt” was only emphatic outside of the first person, whereas “will” was the emphatic form for I/We. Of course, that only supports what you said about English authors.

11

Well, I admit I’m confused as to who exactly we’re talking about and what period we’re talking about. My fault, no doubt. :smiley:
Confusus sum, fateor, de quo tractamus et de quâ aetate. Meâ culpâ certé.

12

whom! :slight_smile:

13

… We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender …

(He was born in 1874)

14

Informal and relatively neutral, Mathaeus. Nothing wrong there. :smiley:
Affabiliter dictu et benè commune, Mathaee, sine impedimento.

15

Preliminary Exercise B

  1. Give me this book.
    Da mihi hunc librum.

  2. Do not give him a sword, but give him arrows.
    Nole dare eī gladium, sed da eī sagittās.

  3. Let us go, and let them remain here.
    Eāmus, maneant hic.

  4. do not go home, but return to us.
    Nole ire domum, sed nobis redīte.

  5. Let him go away now, but come again.
    Nunc Eat, sed iterum veniat.

  6. Keep these books. Do not lose them.
    Servā hōs librōs. Eōs nole perdere.

  7. Let us fortify the city with walls.
    Urbem muniāmus.

  8. Do not let us return to the city (I assume that this is a very archaic use of the English hortative, not an imperative because that hardly makes sense.)
    Ad urbem nē redeāmus.

  9. Boys, obey your masters.
    Puerī, magistrīs parēte.

  10. Let us spend the winter in the city.
    Agāmus hieme in urbe.

  11. Do not remain at home.
    Domī nolite manēre.

  12. Let them build ships. Let them not be afraid of the sea.
    Navēs aedificent. Mare ne timeant.

  13. Do not give me the book.
    Librum mihi nole dare.

  14. This is Caius’s book—give it to him.
    Liber Caiī est – eī eum dā.

  15. Do not let us remain here.
    Hic ne maneāmus.

  16. Let him be killed.
    Interficiātur.

  17. Do not be afraid of the sea.
    Mare nole timēre.

  18. Citizens, defend the city with your arms.
    Civēs, urbem armīs defendite.

  19. Give me the letter.
    Litterās mihi dā.

  20. Let all return to the city.
    Cunctī ad urbem redeant.

Wow! What a noticeable improvement in fluency, I only needed some practice to let it come more naturally again (although I’m sure I still have mistakes here).

A question about style: should imperatives come at the beginning or at the end of sentences? I assume there are different stylistic practices varying through time, authors and literally genres.

16

All I can see wrong with those: your consistent use of nole in place of nōlī; hieme in place of hiemem in 10; nōbīs in place of ad nōs in 4 (and that one’s arguable).

17

Noli indeed! I wonder how it happened that I adopted the wrong form.

About hiemem agere: I probably thought that it should be ablative. Maybe it’s because of Whitaker’s Word’s definition of agere:

I didn’t use cum though. cum hieme agere seems weird to me anyway. Maybe someone could clear this up.

18

Cum is used for the thing you are spending time with - Romulus in caelo cum dīs agit aevom, “Romulus is spending eternity in the sky with the gods”.

Give me this book.

I know you didn’t write this, but it sounds odd. I don’t think I’d even say that in English, except maybe if I were at Barnes & Noble holding up a book that I wanted someone to buy me for Christmas… or something… Or, perhaps, “give this book back to me when you are done with it.”

I’d think istum librum if the hearer is holding the book, near it or owns it, and illum otherwise. This isn’t your issue, though.

I don’t know why the author used a C in Gaius - that was the spelling before the letter G was created.

19

Preliminary Exercise C

  1. Romulus, son of Mars, was the first king of the Romans.
    Romulus, filius Maris, rex primus Romanōrum erat.

  2. Obey the king, the father of his country.
    Parēte regī, patrī patriae nostrae.

  3. You and your brother will be killed by the enemy.
    Tu et frater tuus ab hostibus interficiēminī.

  4. Caius and I are well.
    Caius et ego velēmus.

  5. The youths were killed by their fother, Brutus.
    Juvenēs interfectī sunt ab patre suō, Brutō.

  6. You and I and your friends will set out.
    Tu et ego et amicī tuī proficiscēmur.

  7. The king and queen are dear to all of the citizens.
    Rex et regina carī sunt omnibus civibus.

  8. By good laws Numa, the second king of Rome, benefited his country.
    Legibus bonīs Numa, rex secundus Romae, patriae suae proderat.

  9. Both men and women were killed by the soldiers.
    Et virī et feminae ab milibus interfectī sunt.

  10. All of us love life, the greatest gift of the gods.
    Nos omnēs amāmus vitam, donum maximum deōrum.

  11. The king lost his kingdom and his riches, the things most pleasant to him.
    Rex perdidit regnum suum et divitiās suās, rēs jucundissimās eī.

  12. Citizens, obey me, your king.
    Civēs, parete mihi, regī vestrō.

  13. Neither the king nor his sons will be killed.
    Nec rex nec filiī suī interficiēntur.

  14. The king and his son Caius have been killed.
    Rex et filius tuus Caius interfectī sunt.

  15. He and I will go away.
    Is et ego abibimus.

  16. Give the letter to me, your king.
    Dā(te) litterās mihi, regī tuō/vestrō.

  17. She and her brother have been sent home.
    Ea et frater suus domum missī sunt.

  18. His father, the king of Italy, has sent him.
    Pater eius, rex Italiae, eum misit.

  19. I have come to you, my own brother.
    Venī tuō, fratrī meō.

  20. Both the men and the women are good citizens.
    Et virī et feminae sunt civēs bonī.

20

Bene factum est, Amiros,—separatim haec pauca.

  1. Martis
  2. patriae nostrae, ut dicis, vel patriae vel patriae eius vel patriae ipsius
  3. Valemus
  4. a patre ante ab patre
    ab before vowels and h and often before l,n,r,s and sometimes before c,j,d,t, an almost never before labials p,b,f,v
    ab ante vocales et saepe l,n,r,s consonantes, nonnunquam ante c,j,d,t, rarissimè ante p,b,f,v labiales
  5. filius suus