Latin for Beginners

This book is an excellent start for learning Latin. The lessons are very well structured, gradually introducing new vocabulary and grammar. The author phases the lessons well. For example, when he focuses on verbs, he gives the declensions a rest, and vice-versa. There is plenty of accumulative knowledge, meaning that you don´t forget what you learnt in previous lessons. Things keep popping back to refresh your memory. The first pages are devoted to a brief discussion of the Latin language, its history, and its educational value. The body of the book, consisting of seventy-nine lessons, is divided into three parts. Part I is devoted to pronunciation, quantity, accent, and kindred introductory essentials. Part II carries the work through the first sixty lessons, and is devoted to the study of forms and vocabulary, together with some elementary constructions, knowledge of which is necessary for the translation of the exercises and reading matter. The first few lessons have been made unusually simple, to meet the wants of pupils not well grounded in English grammar. Part III contains nineteen lessons, and is concerned primarily with the study of syntax and of subjunctive and irregular verb forms. The last three of these lessons constitute a review of all the constructions presented in the book. There is abundant easy reading matter; and, in order to secure proper concentration of effort upon syntax and translation, no new vocabularies are introduced, but the vocabularies in Part II are reviewed.