Abbey Latin: Liber Secundus

Abbey Latin: Liber Secundus

Abbey Latin is a traditional grammar approach to teaching Classical Latin. So-titled because it was written for the students of a private school on the grounds of a Benedictine Abbey, the text is designed to not only teach students how to read Classical Latin “with speed and relish” (William Gardner Hale), but to also give the student a solid grounding in English grammar – to that end, an emphasis has been placed on parsing and reading Latin syntax. This text, Liber Secundus (the Second Book of the series), comprises one academic year (that is, nine months) of eighth grade Latin. While originally written for eighth graders, the text has been successful with students as young as ten and adults as old as you please. Highlights of Liber Secundus include: a new vocabulary list given each chapter - easy-to-follow presentation of topics; lessons flow naturally - plenty of exercises are given which target the topics in the lessons – the textbook is a workbook, with all boxes, blanks, and charts provided for the learner - lessons are grounded in English, so the learner also becomes proficient in English grammar as well as Latin - as much authentic Latin as possible is given in an effort to familiarize the student with un-adapted authors as soon as possible - eighteen new chapters are given, with a review chapter regularly given (five review chapters altogether in Liber Secundus ) - Latin readings are given which continue the narrative of Roman history begun in Liber Primus (featured within are stories in chronological order from Cincinnatus' dictatorship to the fall of Carthage in the 3rd Punic War) - maps and illustrations are given to better guide the learner - Latin - English & English - Latin dictionaries are given A Latin student should be able to demonstrate mastery of the following after completing Liber Secundus: decline Latin noun declensions 1st - 5th (including i-stem) - decline Latin adjectives of each applicable declension in the positive. comparative, and superlative degrees - decline Latin adverbs of each applicable declension in the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees - decline Latin personal, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, indefinite, intensive, and reflexive pronouns - conjugate Latin verb conjugations 1st - 4th (including - io ), all persons, both numbers, all tense, both voice, and indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods - form and decline all participles - form and use all infinitives - form Ablative Absolutes - use Oratio Obliqua - use the subjunctive in both independent and dependent clauses - parse and read simple to advanced English and Latin sentences containing advanced subordination (temporal, causal, relative, comparative, and conditional clauses) Et tolle et lege et labora. – pick it up, read it, and work.