Relative Clause of Characteristic; Dative of Reference; Supines; Gerund & Gerundive

1. Relative Clause of Characteristic; Dative of Reference; Supines; Gerund & Gerundive April 5th, 2012

2. Relative Clause of Characteristic • Ordinary relative clause provides additional information about some specific word in the main sentence. (i.e. Caesar is the Roman general who conquered Gaul). • Relative Clause of Characteristic provides some general or hypothetical quality about another word in the main sentence. (i.e. There is no one who would dare to do such a thing). • Cf. Wheelock, pp. 269-70

3. Dative of Reference or Interest • Dative typically used to indicate the indirect object. (i.e. The soldier gave roses to the girl). • Dative of Reference is used to indicate the person or thing who has an interest in the action of the verb, is indirectly affected, has some interest in the action. • The typical translation of “to” or “for” does not always work. Sometimes more complex phrases requires. • Cf. Wheelock, p. 270.

4. Supines • 4th Declension verbal noun – identical to perfect, participle, passive – only two forms: accusative and ablative singular. • Laudatum, Laudatu – Monitum, Monitu – Actum, Actu – Auditum, Auditu – Captum, Captu. • Ablative supine used together with a neuter adjective indicating in what respect the neuter adjective is applicable (i.e. Mirabile dictu – “Amazing to say”; Facile factu – “Easy to do”) • Accusative supine used with verbs of motion to indicate the purpose for the motion (i.e. Ibant Romam rogatum pecuniam – “They were going to Rome to ask for money)

5. Gerundive and Gerund • Gerundive = Future, Passive, Participle = A verbal adjective ending in –ndus, -unda, -undum. • Used attributively to modify a noun or else in a passive periphrastic construction. • Gerund = Verbal Noun; has only four forms (neuter, singular – acc., gen., dat., abl.,); active in meaning; corresponds to the English “-ing” (i.e. magnum amorem legendi habet – “He has a great love of reading.”); cf. Wheelock, p. 277