Questions tagged [grammar-choice]
When asking which choice (case, tense, mood etc.) is grammatical in a given situation, use this tag.
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Don't pay the ferryman, until ... future perfect?
Recently I read that Charon was a portitor, i.e., a ferryman. This got me thinking about the phrase "Don't pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side" (Chris de Burgh, 1982) and ...
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Why "absolute" instead of "absolutam"?
There's a famous piece of mathematics by János Bolyai, originally published in Latin, under the title Scientiam Spatii Absolute Veram Exhibens: A Veritate Aut Falsitate Axiomatis XI Euclidei, A Priori ...
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Infinitive clause constructed via plural noun
I stumbled upon this sentence and I am quite perplexed. I would translate as the first example I'll show, but I'd like to be sure.
"Cum ista ex militum cognitione toti Galli intelligant esse ...
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Does Latin offer a single word referring back to the preceding *two* names mentioned?
Background.
The following is correct standard English:
(0) He read the poems of Catullus, Juvenal, Horace, and Virgil. He intentionally memorized only poems of the latter two.
The following uses ...
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Can Roman numerals stand for any kind of Latin numbers?
Latin has four classes of number words.
Can Roman numerals (I, II, …) be used to for any class, or should they be restricted to, say, cardinals and ordinals?
For example, can I abbreviate any ...
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Can I use an instrument with the supine ablative of respect?
If a book is easy to write, I might say liber facilis est scriptu.
Here the supine ablative scriptu is an ablative of respect (ablativus respectus).
If I want to be more specific about my writing, I ...
- 109k
4
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How to express shared ownership of several individuals
The distinction between shared ownership and private ownership of individuals is well illustrated in Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style:
If Jeanette has some pencils and ...
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Misquoting Linnaeus or correcting him?
I found a couple books that quote the introduction to the Systema Naturæ thus:
Tanto igitur magis nosse naturam operæ pretium, quo nullum majus est!
Linnaeus actually wrote:
Tanto igitur magis ...
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Are causal relative clauses stylistically preferred to causal clauses?
In Latin a relative clause can be causal and the causal nature can be emphasized with quippe, ut, utpote or praesertim.
A causal relative clause can always be replaced with a causal clause, but not ...
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Ascend "by", should it be ablative?
In music, a "comma" is a rough unit of intonation. If I were to refer to a refrain which had globally ascended a comma compared to the previous time it occurred, does it make sense that it ...
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What numbers (e.g. 0, -1, or 1.0) are plurals in Latin?
The basic question is: With which numbers should I use a plural form of the noun?
Background: English
In English it seems to me that the only singular number is 1 (and maybe -1), but everything else ...
- 109k
2
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How would you describe someone as being completely alone?
If I wanted a very succinct way to say some person or thing was completely alone, how would I say this in Classical Latin? For example, if someone was drifting far out in the void of space where they ...
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Titling texts in Latin
So, I'm puzzling through a grammar structure in Latin, mostly after just cramming a bunch of grammar into my head. I'm trying to concoct the title of an imaginary text.
I'd like to check whether I'...
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What does "de" mean in "Ego de to my liking"?
In the classic school interchange
Quis? Ego de to my liking.
What grammatical part is the "de" playing?
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Did the Romans distinguish derivation and loan?
I learned from this question that the Romans used the same verb mutuari both for loaning words from Greek and deriving new words within Latin.
Are there any examples in classical literature that make ...
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