Filiae Morris: For Tuesday, 16 November

The first thing to do is to go back carefully through lectiones I et II in Capitulum XII. As you read, pause occasionally to parse a single sentence -- i.e., make sure you know what each word is doing in the sentence, see where the phrases and clauses are, understand which case a given noun is (and why it needs to be that case). Get familiar with any new vocabulary that shows up in the reading, and try to recognize the different cases of third declension nouns when you see them. Take note of the marginalia (marginal notations) and make sure you understand what they are pointing out. You might want to read aloud at least part of the reading and, once you are comfortable with the contents, practice using natural vocal intonation.

Then you may wish to go through the discussion in the College Companion of any new grammatical and syntactical forms in the reading. You'll notice tables that show the case endings for the newly introduced fourth declension nouns, and for adjectives of comparison, which follow the third declension.

Once you are familiar with the new vocabulary and grammar, you are ready to try your hand at the Exercitia 1-4 for the lectio prima of Cap. XII (write these out to hand in, in lieu of a quiz). Here is an overview of what each exercitium requires:

1. The first exercise has you transforming a transitive statement of possession (e.g., Marcus unam sororem habet) into an equivalent statement using the newly-introduced dative of possession construction (Marco una soror est.). Note that what is possessed goes from being a direct object to being the nominative subject, while the one doing the possessing changes from nominative into dative case.
2. The second exercise simply has you giving the third declension nouns that indicate family relationships (pater, mater, frater, soror) the correct case endings, depending on their function in the sentence.
3. The third exercise is an opportunity to start using some of the new vocabulary. The words to select from are given in the margin, but keep in mind that you will need to to put them in the correct form, according to their use in the sentence.