Recognising and Explaining Latin Syntax

Ten marks, three different jobs

Section A gives you a **choice**: this syntax and accidence question, or an English-to-Latin composition. Both are worth ten marks and you answer only one. If you take this one, it asks you to do three different things with the passage in front of you: **recognise** an example of a form, **analyse** the form of a given word, and **explain** why a form is being used. They sound similar. They are marked completely differently, and answering the wrong one is the commonest way to lose marks here.

Recognise, analyse, explain

Read the command word first. It tells you how much to write.

Read the command word

A question says: "**dominus servo imperat.** Explain the case of *servo*." What does a full answer contain?

• That it is dative, AND that it is dative because impero takes the dative case
• That it is dative singular
• Quoting the word servo from the passage
• A translation of the whole sentence

What this question can and cannot ask

This option is governed by the **full** accidence and syntax, which is wide: nouns of all declensions, adjectives of all standard types, regular AND deponent verbs in all moods, voices and tenses, participles, infinitives, imperatives, and the gerundive. But the specification excludes a short, precise list, and knowing it saves real revision time. **Not required:** the future perfect, the present subjunctive, the perfect subjunctive, the future passive infinitive, the supine, and the **gerund**. Read that carefully: the **gerundive is in and the gerund is out**, and because only the present and perfect subjunctives are excluded, the **imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive are in**.

In scope or not?

Select the TWO forms this question could ask you to analyse.

• A gerundive
• A pluperfect subjunctive
• A gerund
• A future perfect

The same word, two meanings

A few prepositions take more than one case, and the case decides the meaning. **in** is the one you will meet constantly.

Give the full form

You are asked to analyse **portabat**. Which answer gives the form completely?

• Third person singular, imperfect tense, indicative mood, active voice
• Imperfect tense
• It means "he was carrying"
• Nominative singular

Match each preposition to the case it takes

Which word is dative?

The verb **impero** takes the dative. Tap the ONE word in this sentence that is in the dative case.

• dominus
• servo
• imperat
• .

Say the rules back

A question asking you to _____ wants you to give a reason, not just a label. Analysing a verb means giving its person, number, tense, mood and _____. The preposition in takes the ablative when it means position and the _____ when it means movement into something. The verb impero takes the _____ case. Of the subjunctive tenses, the present and perfect are _____ from this paper.

Write the explanation

Build the answer to: "In **tres horas laborabat**, explain the case of *tres horas*."

All three, answered properly

Take the sentence **dominus servo per silvam imperat.** **Recognise:** "Find an example of a preposition." Answer: *per*. One word, nothing more. **Analyse:** "Give the form of *imperat*." Answer: third person singular, present tense, indicative mood, active voice. **Explain:** "Explain the case of *silvam*." Answer: it is accusative, because the preposition *per* takes the accusative. Three answers, three lengths. The explain answer is the only one containing the word "because", and that word is where its marks are.

Work out an unfamiliar form

You are asked to analyse a word you do not recognise at sight. Put the steps in a useful order.

• Decide what part of speech it is: does it have a verb ending or a noun ending?
• Find the stem, and recall the word it belongs to from your list
• Name its declension or conjugation from that word's genitive or infinitive
• Read the ending against that pattern to get the full form
• Check the answer against the rest of the sentence, since one ending can have two forms

Which option should you take?

Section A lets you choose between this question and the English-to-Latin composition. Work out how to decide.

• The two options are governed by different scopes. What is the difference?
• A student is confident at spotting and naming forms but slow and error-prone at producing Latin. Which should they choose, and when?
• What follows from choosing this option?

Your turn: coach a classmate

A classmate keeps writing the same answer whatever the command word is. Explain how the three tasks in this question differ, and how they should revise for it.

• Say what a recognise answer looks like, and how long it should be
• List everything an analyse answer must give for a verb
• Explain what an explain answer contains that the other two do not
• Name two forms this paper will never ask about, so they can stop revising them