Latin A-Level
Latin A-Level glossary
205 key terms for Latin A-Level, A to Z, each linked to the topic pages that use it.
205 terms found. Open a term to try a short memory check.
A
- Ablative absolute construction
- A noun and participle both sit in the ablative and form a phrase grammatically separate from the main clause, as in his rebus gestis, these things having been…OCR
- Ablative and quam constructions
- Comparatives may take quam ('than') or the ablative of comparison.OCR
- Ablative of comparison
- The second item stands in the ablative and quam is omitted, and it is regularly available when the first item is nominative or accusative.OCR
- Ablative patterns of usage
- The ablative marks means, manner, accompaniment, separation and place where, often with a preposition.OCR
- ac/atque as introducers
- Alternative introductory words used after a comparative in place of quam to introduce the comparative clause.OCR
- Accidence
- Word forms such as noun cases, verb tenses, moods and voices, which you identify by naming the part of speech, case, number, gender, tense, mood or voice as…OCR
- Accurate recall of contextual detail
- Distinguishing accurate contextual detail from plausible but incorrect alternatives means selecting the option that correctly matches this contextual knowledge.OCR
- Accurate recall of prose set text content
- Detailed knowledge means accurate recall of content, characters, sequence of events and the writer's presentation in the prose set texts studied.OCR
- Accurate translation
- Translating a short Latin phrase from the passage accurately, checking case, tense and voice carefully rather than guessing from context.OCR
- Accusative and infinitive distinguished
- Verbs of commanding such as iubeō take the accusative and infinitive, as in iubeō tē venīre, which is a separate construction, not the prolative use.OCR
- Accusative and infinitive in indirect statement
- The marker of indirect statement, where the subject of the infinitive stands in the accusative and the verb becomes an infinitive, translated with 'that'.OCR
- Accusative versus ablative with in and sub
- In and sub take the ablative for place where or position under, but the accusative for motion into or motion to beneath.OCR
- Active production in composition
- Producing the item yourself by writing correct Latin in composition, which the composition option requires.OCR
- Adjective declensions
- Adjectives of all standard types, from all three declensions, including first-and-second-declension adjectives and third-declension adjectives of three, two…OCR
- Adverb formation from adjectives
- Most adverbs are formed from adjectives, and the adjective's declension must be checked before applying a suffix.OCR
- Adverb function in context
- Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, and the whole sentence should be read to confirm what the adverb modifies.OCR
- Agency and sequence in Tacitean narrative
- Within 59–65 the agents are followed in order, and the sequence of who acts on whom matters for accurate comment.OCR
- Agreement in case, number and gender
- A correct answer agrees the adjective with its noun in case, number and gender.OCR
- Agreement within phrases
- Seeing how words group, such as a noun with its agreeing adjective or a participle with its noun.OCR
- Ambiguity avoidance
- The ablative of comparison is avoided where the ablative would be ambiguous, and the construction that keeps the case of each item clear is chosen.OCR
- Appeals to the jury's sense of justice and sympathy
- Cicero shapes the jury's sympathies through appeals to its sense of justice.OCR
- Appendix 5d constructions
- Constructions such as indirect statement, purpose and result clauses and subordinate clauses, which you distinguish from superficially similar patterns.OCR
- Attack on Chrysogonus and the prosecutors
- Cicero attacks the prosecutors, especially the freedman Chrysogonus and his associates.OCR
- Attributive use
- A participle may stand attributively, simply describing its noun, as in vir fortiter pugnans, the man fighting bravely.OCR
- Audience and circumstances of composition
- The audience it addressed and the circumstances of its composition are part of the wider context that shapes how the text was written and received.OCR
- Authorial technique and purpose
- Using your reading to explain why the set author writes as they do, for example how historians shape narrative, characterise speakers and explain causes.OCR
B
- Boudican revolt and Roman recovery
- Chapters 29–37 narrate the revolt of Boudica and the Britons and the decisive battle in which Suetonius Paulinus defeats them.OCR
- Boundaries of the prescribed text
- The prescription covers two separated stretches of Annals XIV, chapters 29–37 and chapters 59–65, and not the whole of Annals XIV.OCR
C
- Cardinal forms 1 to 1000
- Numbers that answer 'how many', running from unus, duo, tres and so on up to mille (1000).OCR
- Case agreement with quam
- With quam, both items take the same case as the comparison requires.OCR
- Case and number recognition
- Identifying the right case and number form, which a correct answer does, without confusing the irregular stems with regular ones.OCR
- Case endings and grammatical function
- Nouns change ending to show their role in the sentence, and the standard patterns of case usage link each case to a function.OCR
- Case government by prepositions
- Prepositions are indeclinable words that signal the grammatical case of a following noun, and each must be learned together with its case.OCR
- Case of the relative pronoun from its own clause
- The relative pronoun takes its case from its own function inside the relative clause rather than from the antecedent.OCR
- Case, number and gender of pronouns
- The form's case and number are identified from its ending and stem, and the gender it carries is also identified.OCR
- Causal clause
- A clause that gives the reason for the action of another clause.OCR
- Causal conjunctions quod, quia and quoniam
- In Latin a causal clause is commonly introduced by quod, quia or quoniam.OCR
- Character, speaker and addressee
- Knowing the Latin text closely enough to identify who speaks and to whom a short extract is addressed.OCR
- Characterisation of Nero and his court
- Analysis of how Tacitus presents character and motive through selection and arrangement of material, rather than through translating Latin.OCR
- Cicero's defence of Sextus Roscius against a murder charge
- Cicero defends Sextus Roscius against the charge of murdering his father in the defence speech pro Roscio Amerino.OCR
- Cicero's direct address to Catiline
- The speech opens with Cicero addressing Catiline directly rather than the Senate as a body.OCR
- Clause relationship between condition and conclusion
- The main clause carries the conclusion, so read the whole sentence as condition plus outcome rather than translating each clause in isolation.OCR
- Clause structure and subordination
- Recognising how a subordinate clause relates to its main clause through mood, tense and connective.OCR
- Clause types signalled by conjunctions
- Purpose clauses, result clauses, indirect commands and indirect questions, each signalled by conjunctions such as ut, ne, cum or an interrogative word.OCR
- Close reading of Ciceronian Latin
- Reading the Latin closely so that you can identify, translate and comment on specific lines, checking any translation against the Latin rather than relying on…OCR
- Close reading supported by background
- Keeping the explanation proportionate so that context supports close reading of the set text rather than replacing it.OCR
- Comparative and superlative formation
- For adjectives, the comparative adds -ior (masc./fem.) and -ius (neut.) to the stem, and the superlative adds -issimus/-a/-um; adverbs compare regularly with…OCR
- Comparative clause
- A finite-verb clause introduced by quam, or by ac/atque after a comparative, that supplies the standard against which a comparison is made.OCR
- Comparative constructions
- Latin expresses comparison in two main ways: with quam, or with the ablative of comparison where quam is omitted.OCR
- Comparative with quam ut plus subjunctive
- Where a comparative idea is expressed, quam ut plus the subjunctive can appear, meaning the result is beyond what the comparison would allow.OCR
- Concessive conjunctions
- Conjunctions such as quamquam, quamvis, licet, etsi and etiamsi that introduce a clause conceding a point the main statement holds despite.OCR
- Conditional clauses with the subjunctive
- Dum and dummodo can introduce a conditional clause meaning 'provided that', and in that use the verb is subjunctive.OCR
- Conditional conjunctions sī and nisi
- The subordinate clause is introduced by sī (if) or nisi (unless, if not), and nisi keeps its negative sense.OCR
- Consonant assimilation
- The final consonant of the prefix assimilates to the first consonant of the base, as when ad- plus ferre gives afferre.OCR
- Context serving interpretation
- Bringing in historical or cultural knowledge only where it genuinely helps you understand or evaluate a specific phrase, sentence or passage.OCR
- Context-based meaning
- Selecting the option consistent with the whole sentence rather than a single familiar word.OCR
- Contextual knowledge applied to text
- Bringing in historical or cultural knowledge only where it is needed to understand or evaluate a specific phrase, sentence or passage.OCR
- Contextual reading in English translation
- Building a working knowledge of the literary background behind your set prose text by reading a suitable range of ancient literature in English translation,…OCR
- Contrast between concession, cause and condition
- A concessive clause is rendered with 'although', 'even if' or 'granted that' rather than as a cause with 'because' or a plain condition.OCR
- Correlative constructions with tamen
- Correlatives such as quamquam...tamen and cum...tamen, where tamen reinforces the main clause and is translated as 'nevertheless' or 'yet'.OCR
- Credibility and character attack
- The attack on the prosecutors' credibility, developed in sections 58–78 as part of the defence.OCR
- Cultural values and institutions assumed by the text
- The cultural values and institutions the text assumes, which could condition what an author wrote and how listeners heard it.OCR
- Cum indicative versus cum subjunctive
- The indicative is used for plain time ('when') and the subjunctive for circumstances or explanation ('since', 'although').OCR
- Cupid and Psyche narrative
- The tale to which the prescribed stretch belongs, within Book VI of Apuleius' Metamorphoses.OCR
D
- Dactylic hexameter
- A metre in which each foot is a dactyl (long–short–short) or a spondee (long–long), and the two lines need not share the same pattern.OCR
- Declension-based suffixes -ē and -iter
- First/second-declension adjectives add -ē to the stem, while third-declension adjectives commonly add -iter.OCR
- Defective and irregular verbs
- Defective verbs lack parts, and irregular verbs include sum, possum, eō, ferō, volō and their compounds.OCR
- Deliberative questions
- A question where the speaker ponders what should be done uses the present or imperfect subjunctive, as in Quid faciam?OCR
- Demonstrative and relative pronouns
- Demonstratives such as hic, ille and is, and relatives such as quī, belong here, along with interrogatives such as quis.OCR
- Deploying grammar
- Rendering a form correctly in English by choosing the English version that preserves the meaning and force of the construction.OCR
- Deponent and semi-deponent verbs
- Deponents have passive forms with active meaning, while semi-deponents are active in the present system but passive in the perfect.OCR
- Distinction between quominus and quin
- A plain affirmative verb of preventing takes quominus, while quin needs a negative or virtually negative main clause.OCR
- Distinguishing dum as 'while', 'until' and 'provided that'
- Distinguish this from dum meaning 'while', which normally takes the present indicative, and from dum meaning 'until', which takes the indicative or, in…OCR
- Divine intervention and reconciliation
- The selected narrative centres on the Cupid and Psyche story and ends with the final reconciliation.OCR
- Dum with the present indicative for ongoing action
- Meaning 'while', it regularly takes the present indicative even in a past narrative because the action is viewed as ongoing, and is translated with an English…OCR
E
- Effect and function of technique
- Naming a feature is only the first step: link the term to the effect it creates in that passage.OCR
- Effect on audience
- Explaining the effect of the named feature on the reader or listener rather than only labelling it.OCR
- Elegiac couplet
- A hexameter line followed by a pentameter, whose feet differ, so each line is scanned on its own terms.OCR
- Elimination of options
- Working the scansion out yourself before looking at the choices, then removing options that misplace a long or short syllable.OCR
- Evaluation of tone and attitude
- Using historical or cultural knowledge to evaluate tone, attitude or effect, not merely to state a fact.OCR
- Evaluation of tone and situation
- Applying knowledge to evaluate tone, character or situation rather than merely stating a fact.OCR
- Evidence-based analysis
- Anchoring a technical term in the specific Latin words quoted, so that the label is demonstrated by the text rather than used without quotation.OCR
- Exhortation with the present subjunctive
- A use urging a course of action, normally with the present subjunctive, usually first person plural, such as eāmus, 'let us go', with negative exhortations…OCR
F
- Fear removed and its consequences
- The second stretch begins at chapter 59 with the anchor phrase 'et posito metu' ('and with fear set aside') and runs to chapter 65, reporting the deaths and…OCR
- Fit between context and specific textual detail
- Selecting context that genuinely illuminates the passage in front of you rather than reciting a timeline.OCR
- Foot division
- The marked syllables are grouped into feet from the start of the line, with the final foot resolved last.OCR
- Framing of motive and charge
- Cicero's framing of the charge, introduced in sections 35–36 together with the prosecution's alleged motive.OCR
- Full tense, mood and voice system
- Verbs of all standard types from all conjugations in all moods, voices and tenses, parsed for person, number, tense, mood and voice.OCR
G
- Generic subjunctive
- Describes a typical or repeated kind of person or action, as in a generalising relative clause.OCR
- Genitive and dative relationships
- The genitive marks possession and other close relationships, while the dative marks the indirect object and the person interested or benefited.OCR
- Gerund as a verbal noun
- A verbal noun appearing in the oblique cases, as in ars scribendī, 'the art of writing'.OCR
- Gerund as active verbal noun
- A verbal noun, active in sense, that declines only in the oblique cases and names the activity itself, as in ars amandi, the art of loving.OCR
- Gerundive as passive verbal adjective
- A passive verbal adjective in -ndus, -nda, -ndum agreeing with its noun, as in liber amandus, a book to be loved.OCR
- Gerundive construction replacing gerund plus object
- Where a gerund would take a direct object, idiomatic Latin often uses the gerundive construction instead, so ad libros amandos rather than a bare accusative…OCR
- Gerundive of obligation with dative of agent
- A construction expressing necessity or duty, usually with esse and a dative of agent, as in liber mihi amandus est, the book must be loved by me.OCR
H
- Handling of evidence about the slaves
- Part of the defence developed in sections 58–78, alongside the attack on the prosecutors' credibility.OCR
- Hannibal's early oath and command
- Chapters 1–6 trace Hannibal's oath and his command in Spain, before the crossing of the Alps and the victories at the Trebia, Trasimene and Cannae.OCR
- Historic infinitive in narrative
- It replaces an imperfect or perfect indicative in vivid narrative, often in a series, as in currere, 'they ran'.OCR
- Historical and political background
- The historical and political background is part of the wider context that shapes how the text was written and received.OCR
- Historical circumstances of composition
- The historical circumstances of the text's composition and first audience, such as the political climate of the late Republic or early Empire.OCR
I
- Imagery and word choice
- Knowing the text closely enough to identify which images and word choices carry the meaning.OCR
- Imperative commands
- A command uses the imperative for a positive order, as in Veni.OCR
- Impersonal verbs and impersonal passive
- Impersonal verbs appear only in the third-person singular, and the impersonal passive of an intransitive verb uses the third-person singular passive.OCR
- Independent subjunctive uses
- Three uses of the subjunctive in independent clauses, namely prohibitions, exhortations and wishes.OCR
- Indicative and subjunctive in causal clauses
- The verb may be indicative when the writer presents the reason as fact or subjunctive when the reason is reported or attributed.OCR
- Indicative relative clauses of description and definition
- Relative clauses normally have an indicative verb when they simply describe or define the antecedent, as in a straightforward descriptive clause.OCR
- Indirect question with num or an after affirmative doubt
- Affirmative doubt takes an indirect question with num or an, not quin.OCR
- Infinitive as subject
- The infinitive names the action that a verb or impersonal expression evaluates, as in errāre est hūmānum, 'to err is human'.OCR
- Interrogative word with subjunctive in indirect question
- An indirect question is distinguished by its interrogative word and subjunctive verb.OCR
- Intertextual comparison between ancient works
- Comparing treatments of similar themes, or linking a specific feature of the set text to a comparable feature in another ancient work read in translation.OCR
- Irregular adverbs as vocabulary
- Some adverbs are irregular and must be learned as vocabulary rather than derived by regular formation.OCR
- Irregular comparatives
- Irregulars include bonus → melior → optimus, malus → peior → pessimus, magnus → maior → maximus, and their adverb forms.OCR
- Irregular nouns
- Bos, domus, Iuppiter and vis, which the learner must handle beyond the standard types, including the locative domi and the stem Iov- in oblique cases.OCR
L
- Literary genre and conventions
- The genre it belongs to and the conventions it uses form part of the wider context surrounding a prescribed verse set text.OCR
- Literary genre and its conventions
- Reading widely enough in English translation to recognise genre, conventions and typical concerns, then connecting that background to the set text.OCR
- Litotes and cancellation of negatives
- Two negatives in one clause usually cancel to a positive, so non nemo means 'someone' and nemo non means 'everyone'; they do not reinforce each other.OCR
M
- Matching term to Latin wording
- The label must fit the actual wording, so check the Latin before you commit, since word order often decides between two similar devices.OCR
- Metre and scansion
- Identifying the metre of a passage and marking feet and quantities, including caesurae or diaereses where they matter.OCR
- Metrical feet
- The units into which a line of Latin verse is divided when its metrical pattern is marked.OCR
- Mood and sentence function
- Latin marks mood by function, so the verb's mood shows whether the sentence is a direct statement, a question or a command.OCR
- Mood and tense in conditional sentences
- You must understand how the mood and tense of the conditional verb relate to the main verb and to the type of condition.OCR
- Mood as a signal of time relationship
- The conjunction chosen and the mood of its verb carry the time relationship, so the mood is checked before deciding that relationship.OCR
- Mood in reported comparison
- A comparative clause may take the subjunctive when it expresses a reported or hypothetical comparison.OCR
- Moral decline and the historian's judgement
- A recurring theme to track across the discontinuous extracts, connecting the episodes and noting what the selection emphasises.OCR
- Morphology and word endings
- Identifying the grammatical form of an individual word from its ending and context.OCR
- Morphology of nouns, adjectives and verbs
- At word level, identifying form and function: case, number and gender of nouns and adjectives, and person, number, tense, mood and voice of verbs.OCR
N
- Narrative sequence and character agency
- Learn the sequence of episodes and who acts in each, so that an action is attributed to the character who performs it.OCR
- ne with subjunctive after verbs of fearing
- Verbs of fearing take ne plus the subjunctive for the outcome feared, as in timeo ne veniat, 'I fear that he may come'.OCR
- Necessity and relevance of background
- Deploying background when the Latin assumes knowledge the reader must supply, and testing each option by asking whether the Latin wording requires it.OCR
- Negative and virtually negative main clauses
- Quin is used after expressions that are negative or virtually negative, such as non dubito, nemo dubitat, non multum abest and vix.OCR
- Negative conjunctions neque and neu
- Negative coordinating conjunctions meaning 'and not' and 'and not, nor'.OCR
- Negative particles and adverbs
- A small set of words, chiefly non, haud, ne and the negative conjunctions neque (nec) and neu (neve), from which Latin negation is built.OCR
- Nepos' biographical method
- Nepos writes biography, foregrounding Hannibal's character and career rather than a complete campaign history.OCR
- Noun declensions
- The standard types of Latin noun, whose full paradigms a learner should be able to give, such as a first-declension noun like puella or a second-declension…OCR
O
- Oratio obliqua and accusative and infinitive
- In indirect speech the main statement is reported with an accusative and infinitive, while subordinate clauses inside that report use the subjunctive.OCR
- Ordinals 1st to 10th
- Numbers answering 'which in order', from primus to decimus, which decline like first-and-second-declension adjectives.OCR
P
- Participle as verbal adjective
- A participle is a verbal adjective that shares the tense and voice of a verb while agreeing with a noun in case, number and gender.OCR
- Particles modo and tantum
- Dummodo makes the conditional force explicit, and it is often reinforced by modo or tantum, as in dummodo ne veniat, 'provided only that he does not come'.OCR
- Post-Zama career and exile
- Chapters 7–13 continue past Zama, covering his post-war career as suffete at Carthage, his exile, his service with eastern kings and his suicide in Bithynia.OCR
- Potential subjunctive
- Presents something as possible rather than actual, often with a negative or a hedging word such as forsitan or vix.OCR
- Precise literary terminology
- Using appropriate technical terms in English to describe the literary techniques and features of the set texts, naming each technique accurately and avoiding…OCR
- Precision about agents and sequence of events
- Precision about who speaks, who acts and in what order matters more than a general impression when selecting the option that matches the text.OCR
- Precision in referring to prose divisions
- The prescribed portion is called chapters or sections 7–21, never 'lines', because the work is prose.OCR
- Prefix identification
- Naming the prefix and the simple base verb before explaining any sound change at the junction.OCR
- Prefix meaning
- The prefix's normal meaning, such as ad- 'towards', re- 'back' or per- 'through'.OCR
- Prepositional meaning in context
- The noun ending should be checked to confirm the case actually used before the phrase is translated with a sense appropriate to that case.OCR
- Prepositions as verb prefixes
- Some prepositions also function as prefixes in compound verbs, where the same sense often survives.OCR
- Prescribed passage boundaries
- The prescribed portion runs from section 5, beginning at the words forsitan quaeratis, to section 29, ending at the words iugulandum vobis tradiderunt.OCR
- Preventing and hindering constructions
- Constructions using quominus and quin introduce a subordinate clause after expressions that block or question an outcome.OCR
- Prevention with ne, quo minus or infinitive
- Verbs of preventing, such as prohibeo and impedio, take ne plus the subjunctive, or quo minus, or a plain infinitive, as in prohibet ne exeant, 'he prevents…OCR
- Prohibition with nē and the perfect subjunctive
- A negative command forbidding an action, most often expressed by nē plus the perfect subjunctive, as in nē fēceris, 'do not do it'.OCR
- Prohibitions and purpose clauses with ne
- Ne introduces prohibitions and purpose or wish clauses, while non is the ordinary negator of statements.OCR
- Prohibitions with ne and the perfect subjunctive
- A prohibition standardly uses ne with the perfect subjunctive, as in Ne ieris, where ieris is perfect subjunctive and eas is the present subjunctive.OCR
- Pronominal adjective declension
- Adjectives such as alius and ūllus do not decline like a normal first/second-declension adjective but follow the pronominal pattern.OCR
- Pronoun and adverb shift
- Pronouns and adverbs shift to fit the reporter's viewpoint, so ego becomes se and hic may become ille.OCR
- Prose narrative technique
- Apuleius writes prose, so the passage is referred to as chapters or sections and the order of tasks is kept as he narrates it.OCR
- Psyche's trials and endurance
- The selected narrative centres on the Cupid and Psyche story, including Psyche's trials and her descent.OCR
- Purpose clauses with ut and nē
- A clause answering 'in order to' or 'so that', introduced by ut, or by nē when negative, with its verb in the subjunctive.OCR
R
- Reason-and-result sentence structure
- Read the sentence as reason plus result: find the conjunction, bracket the clause it governs, parse its verb, then translate so the causal link is clear.OCR
- Recognition in reading
- Identifying a form or construction in a Latin passage, for example spotting that a verb is future perfect passive or that a clause uses an indirect command.OCR
- Reference and cohesion
- Tracing a pronoun or connective back to the word or clause it refers to.OCR
- Reflexive versus personal reference
- A reflexive pronoun is distinguished from a personal pronoun by its reference back to the subject.OCR
- Relative pronoun agreement with the antecedent
- The relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, and the antecedent is the noun in the main clause that the relative clause describes or…OCR
- Relative tense of the infinitive
- The tense of the infinitive is relative to the main verb rather than absolute.OCR
- Restrictive conditions
- The sense is restrictive: the speaker states a condition that must hold, as in oderint dum metuant, 'let them hate, provided that they fear'.OCR
- Result clauses with ut and ut nōn
- A result clause states what happens as a consequence of the main clause and is introduced by ut, or by ut nōn when negative.OCR
- Reverse-compound teens
- The teens duodeviginti (18, 'two from twenty') and undeviginti (19), which follow septendecim (17).OCR
- Rhetorical persuasion and invective
- Cicero makes rhetorical appeals and uses rhetorical techniques, and the addressee of each passage within the prescribed range should be distinguished.OCR
- Rhetorical strategy in the speech
- Cicero's rhetorical strategies, such as appeals to the jury and characterisation of the parties, which you should note as you read so you can recognise them…OCR
- Rhetorical strategy of defence
- The way Cicero builds persuasion in the set passages, which the assessment tests through comprehension of argument, characterisation and rhetorical strategy.OCR
- Rhetorical techniques and their persuasive effect
- Cicero's rhetorical techniques include rhetorical questions, apostrophe, irony, tricolon, praeteritio and appeals to the jury's sense of justice.OCR
- Roman institutions and social practice
- Background such as a reference to a Roman institution, a religious practice, a political office, a social relationship such as patron and client, or an item…OCR
- Roman social and political conventions
- Knowledge such as the conventions of Roman patronage, which can explain a speaker's tone.OCR
S
- Selective declension
- Only unus, duo and tres decline, as do the hundreds from ducenti to nongenti, while quattuor to centum are indeclinable.OCR
- Sequence of tenses
- Subordinate clauses inside indirect speech follow the sequence of tenses governed by the introductory verb, with primary sequence after a present or future…OCR
- Sequence of tenses in subjunctive clauses
- The verb is subjunctive, with the present subjunctive after a primary main verb and the imperfect after a historic one.OCR
- Signal words in the main clause
- The main clause usually contains a signal word such as tam, ita, tantus, tālis or adeō.OCR
- Social context of the set text
- The social expectations that shape its characters, such as patronage, the recitation hall or the theatre audience.OCR
- Stem formation
- The correct stem is formed from the genitive singular before adding case endings.OCR
- Stem identification
- Identifying the declension and stem of the noun before selecting the case and number ending.OCR
- Structural devices and word order
- A tricolon needs three coordinated elements; chiasmus needs an ABBA arrangement; hyperbaton needs a displaced word order.OCR
- Structure and narrative sequence
- Knowing the text closely enough to identify what happens and how a passage is structured.OCR
- Subject and object identification
- The nominative marks the subject and the accusative marks the direct object, identified from the ending and the verb rather than word order.OCR
- Subjunctive and indicative in subordinate clauses
- The verb in a concessive clause may stand in the indicative or the subjunctive depending on the conjunction and the writer's nuance.OCR
- Subjunctive as a mood
- A mood, not a tense, that signals how the speaker presents an action rather than stating it as plain fact.OCR
- Subjunctive in subordinate clauses
- The subjunctive marks the clause as part of the reported thought or speech rather than the narrator's own statement.OCR
- Subordinate clause recognition
- A conditional clause is a named subordinate-clause type, so you must recognise the clause and decide which clause is subordinate.OCR
- Syllable quantity
- Each syllable is marked as long or short: long if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or if its vowel is followed by two consonants, otherwise short.OCR
- Syntax
- How words combine, such as case use, subordination and indirect statement, and you explain it by giving the grammatical function of a form in its sentence.OCR
T
- Tacitus's narrative selection and arrangement
- The historian's technique of shaping his narrative, which learners explain and support with specific reference to one of the named passages.OCR
- Temporal conjunctions and their core meanings
- Clauses introduced by conjunctions such as ubi, postquam, cum, dum and antequam place one action in time relative to another.OCR
- Tense and voice of participles
- A present participle is active and describes action happening at the same time as the main verb, a perfect passive participle describes something already done…OCR
- The Cupid and Psyche narrative
- The selected narrative centres on the Cupid and Psyche story, covering Psyche's trials, her descent and the final reconciliation.OCR
- The exercise and abuse of imperial power
- A recurring theme in the extracts, tracked alongside flattery and decline as Tacitus shapes his narrative of Nero's reign.OCR
- The Italian campaign
- The crossing of the Alps and the victories at the Trebia, Trasimene and Cannae are traced in chapters 1–6 of the set text.OCR
- The Senate's forbearance and Cicero's demand for exile
- Cicero demands to know how long Catiline will abuse the Senate's patience and urges him to depart into exile.OCR
- The threat of Catiline's conspiracy
- Cicero claims knowledge of Catiline's plans and contrasts Catiline's guilt with the Senate's forbearance.OCR
- Third-declension adjectives
- These include adjectives of three terminations such as acer, acris, acre, of two terminations such as fortis, forte, and of one termination such as ingens.OCR
- Three degrees of comparison
- Latin compares adjectives and adverbs in three degrees: positive, comparative and superlative.OCR
U
- Using grammar to establish sense
- Selecting the option that matches the grammatical analysis of the Latin rather than the option that merely sounds plausible in English.OCR
- ut and ne non for the feared-not outcome
- When the feared outcome is that something will not happen, Latin uses ne non or ut with the subjunctive, as in timeo ut veniat, 'I fear that he will not come'.OCR
- ut and ne with subjunctive in indirect command
- An indirect command uses ut or ne with a subjunctive after verbs of ordering and asking.OCR
V
- Venus' imposed tasks and divine assistance
- Psyche is set tasks by Venus and receives help from assisting agents such as the ants, the reed and the eagle.OCR
- Vowel weakening in the base
- Vowels may weaken or syncopate in the base, as when facere appears as -ficere in perficere.OCR
W
- Wishes and the utinam construction
- A wish uses the present subjunctive for what may still happen, the imperfect for an unfulfilled wish about the present and the pluperfect for one about the…OCR
Where these terms come from
Each definition is one we publish on a Latin A-Level topic page or study guide. Open a term to see how each exam board words it and which topic it belongs to. For the full course, go to Latin revision or the glossary for every subject.
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