By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Excellently presented, good explanations of principles of grammar, followed by well set-out exercises and passages of Latin prose for translation. The changes are even more profound once the book moves from grammar to reading, to reflect the changes in the A level specification. Bringing together authors from across Latin America and beyond, and covering examples from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, the book sets out a panoramic vision of Latin American comics, whether in terms of scholarly contribution, geographical diversity or interdisciplinary methodologies.

The passages are all well chosen for their interest, as are most of the other passages in the book; the difficulty of choosing passages (especially unseens) that combine interest with an appropriate level of linguistic difficulty should not be underestimated. SheassureduswearenowbeyondGCSElevelandrecommendedtheJohnTaylor,butwereallyneedtheanswerkeytogetusovertrickysections. The manuscript tradition shows that Cicero used both the subjunctive and indicative, seemingly indiscriminately, in indirect questions; but the grammarians — or some of them: they often could not agree, sometimes with themselves even — knew better than Cicero (how ironic is that? Latin Beyond GCSE covers all the linguistic requirements for the OCR AS-level in Latin, and the grammar for A2. The Section B (Cicero) passages, divided into (i) lightly adapted passages (5) and (ii) shorter unadapted extracts (10), have only 5-7 lines of Latin.Grammar books and course books (and certain manuscripts and modern editions of texts) tend to conceal this diversity, a practice that goes back to and is due to the standardisation imposed on the language by the ancient grammarians. One question which may interest BMCR readers is to what extent the teaching of Latin in the upper forms of English schools has changed over this period, and in particular how the predominance of reading-based introductory course books (following the example of the Cambridge Latin Course) has affected the rigor with which the subject (and particularly the grammar) is taught at the higher levels.

Its suitability for its purpose would be best assessed by a current teacher in the English system, but BMCR received no offers of review from this quarter. There is no evidence that this was its basic or original function; in fact there is evidence to the contrary. P. xii: Elision is defined as the “process by which the final vowel or syllable of a word is in effect knocked off”: in fact it is only the vowel which is knocked off (together with nasalizing m) leaving any preceding consonant intact. urges “close attention to detail in getting the form and ending of every word correct” and recommends the looking up and rechecking of every word except the most common.Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc. Completely new are extended prose composition passages for A2, together with very useful guidance on how to approach continuous prose, as opposed to the sentences earlier in the book. John Taylor was for many years Head of Classics at Tonbridge School, UK, and is now Lecturer in Classics at Manchester University, UK. It should be emphasised that the aims and objectives of the book, though examinations-oriented, are confined to the language requirements of the OCR specifications, i. An interesting feature here is that in the “lightly adapted” passages the Latin text is preceded by an English translation of the immediately previous lines to give students a clear idea of the context.

Although this is not really a criticism, as it's far better to be over prepared than underprepared). entitled “A2 practice passages”, contains passages for unseen translation and comprehension (both in the same passage). It will be less suitable perhaps for students at university doing Latin as beginners or with a GCSE Latin background and aspiring to a level commensurate with that of A level at least, and beyond. Some suggested translations seem less than helpful in the actual context, and other words are not glossed though used in a slightly unusual sense. I used John Taylor's "Essential GCSE Latin" constantly whilst studying for the exam and found it the most useful of all my Latin books.The prescribed list of accidence and syntax is in fact the same at both levels, though A2 “requires understanding of more complex structures”. But the learner — or teacher — would not be aware of any of this from Taylor's book, or from any other course book. Finally there is a reference section including a summary of all constructions, a comprehensive grammar,