Pagina:MAXEY, Mima; FAY, Marjorie - A New Latin Primer (1933).pdf/8

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Class II.Words occurring 500-999 times. These words appear early and often.

Class III.Words occurring 100-499 times. In this group is omitted because the subjunctive does not appear in these chapters.

Class IV.Words occurring 50-99 times. This group is largely used.

Class V.Words occurring 25-49 times. 106 words from this list appear.

Class VI.Words occurring 5-24 times. 173 of these words are used.

Class VII.Words not on Lodge’s list of 2,000 words. 73 of these are used, largely in the first lessons to get familiar situations.

A total of 554 words is used in the forty chapters. After the first lessons, each word is introduced in a setting that makes possible its interpretation by reading alone. Every word is repeated in three successive chapters and frequently in later chapters.

That the expression “interpretation by reading alone” may not be misunderstood, by way of illustration the following excerpt The Comic Latin Grammar ([Hartford: Edwin Valentine Mitchell]], p. 12) is added, with blanks in place of words that have been omitted: “The truth is that people are —————————— of crying and find it much more agreeable to ——————————. The sublime is out of ——————————; the —————————— is in vogue. A turn-up nose is now a more interesting object than a —————————— collar.”

Anyone who can read English at that level can supply the first four blanks without even pausing. Anyone who can read English and has the same humorous slant as the author can supply the last. An unfamiliar word can be interpreted as easily as the blank.

For the convenience of the teacher, the basic vocabulary of each chapter is appended at the end of the book and is divided into the classes mentioned above.

Omissions.The omission of paradigms and other grammatical material is intentional. Form and usage are learned from repetitious reading, dictation, and imitation.

The omission of rules of pronunciation is intentional. Pronunciation is learned by imitation and practice.

The omission of classical flavor is intentional. This may be