Grammar Latin
The Five Common Topics from The Lost Tools of Writing:
Comparison: How does X compare with/to Y?
Definition: Who or What is X? What kind of thing is Y?
Circumstance: What are the circumstances surrounding X?
Relation: How is X related to Y?
Testimony: Who says what about X?
(The Lost Tools of Writing, Circe Institute, page 7).
Here is a 5CT discussion that I wrote a few weeks ago. Our time in Latin has been so packed full of parsing and translating (and many other conversations on the fly) that we have not gotten to this discussion. Perhaps, you would like to have this conversation with your student (you can add or take away as fits your homeschooling experience best).
Define: Declension: “consists in adding the proper endings to the stem to show different genders, numbers, and cases” (Henle Latin Grammar, Rule #23, page 3). Conjugation: “consists in adding the proper endings to the proper stem to show the different voices, moods, tenses, numbers, and persons” (Henle Latin Grammar, Rule #150, page 40).
Compare: Declension/Conjugation: How are they similar? Both involve adding proper endings to the stem of a Latin word. How are they different? Declension has to do with nouns and adjectives to show different genders, numbers, and cases. / Conjugation has to do with verbs to show different voices, moods, tenses, numbers, and persons.
Circumstances: What are some of the circumstances surrounding the word “decline”? Stem/gender/number/case—1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th declension. What are some of the circumstances surrounding the word “conjugate”? “Present tense, imperfect tense, future tense—rule numbers 162, 163, and 164).
Relationship: How are “declining” and “conjugating” Latin words related? They are both a process by which to add proper endings. Declined nouns and adjectives work together with conjugated verbs.
(Testimony is wrapped up in the rules). Also, how does this particular Five Common Topic Discussion speak to you about the character of God? How is God “present tense” in your Latin studies?
Taken from Spring Recap Week 7, Second Semester Challenge “A”-2/24/16
Candid Glimpses of a Challenge Classroom 