criptible ｜ (adjective) : A French word, most often translated as writerly, describing the bliss of the written text.
Latin Grammar Handout
In my capacity as an educator I was often tasked with composing short handouts explaining the finer points of Latin grammar, each tailored to the individual level of the students in a particular grade or class. I composed over 1,000 pages of handouts, worksheets, and exams. Below is a typical example of one such handout concerning personal pronouns in Latin and English, intended for an advanced high school class whose students had studied Latin and English grammar for at least two years. All the writing, in both English and Latin, is original to me.
Personal Pronouns
Of all the parts of speech in English, our personal pronouns are most grammatically similar to Latin for the reason that we have retained the use of cases with them. A personal pronoun is a pronoun (a word used in place of a noun) that refers to a particular person (or group of people). In English, we distinguish between a subject case form and an object case form with most of our personal pronouns:
I see the people. The people see me.
We love dogs. Dogs love us.
He likes her. She likes him.
They call me. I call them.
Notice that we can never use an object pronoun in the subject position in English. To say “Me love dogs” sounds terribly infantile to English ears. Latin functions similarly, with the role that a pronoun plays in a sentence reflected by the pronoun’s form. While English usually has only two (three including the possessive case) forms of a given pronoun, Latin has a form for every one of its five cases:
Multī vestrum sunt stultī. (gen.) Many of you are stupid.
Hoc faciō propter meum amōrem vestrī. I do this because of my love of you.
Scrībit litterās mihi. (dat.) He writes letters to me.
Audīsne mē? (acc.) Do you hear me?
Sentiō magnum timōrem in tē. (abl.) I sense great fear in you.
Note that Latin almost never uses the subject (nominative) case pronoun unless the speaker wishes to lay heavy stress the subject:
Ego videō, tū nōn potes vidēre. I see, you cannot see.
Nōs scīmus, vōs estis stultī. We are smart, you all are stupid.
Latin pronouns may, too, just as in English, refer to a word from a previous sentence or clause:
I baked a cake, the cake was delicious. → I baked a cake, it was delicious.
I am reading a book. The book is really good. → I am reading a book. It is really good.
I saw my friend, my friend is very nice. → I saw my friend, he is very nice.
The word from a previous sentence or clause to which a pronoun refers is called an antecedent.
Bedford Stuyvesant
Brooklyn, NY 11206