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Studying word order in Latin helps the reader to understand the author's meaning more clearly. For example, when a verb is placed at the beginning of a sentence, it sometimes indicates a sudden action: so complōsit Trimalchio manūs means not just "Trimalchio clapped his hands" but "Trimalchio suddenly clapped his hands".
The emphasis can be on the action (verb) itself, as seen in sentences 1, 6 and 7, or it can be on parts other than the action (verb), as seen in sentences 2, 3, 4 and 5. If the emphasis is not on the verb, and the verb has a co-verb (in the above example 'meg'), then the co-verb is separated from the verb, and always follows the verb.
Latin word order is relatively free. The verb may be found at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence; an adjective may precede or follow its noun (vir bonus or bonus vir both mean 'a good man'); [5] and a genitive may precede or follow its noun ('the enemies' camp' can be both hostium castra and castra hostium; the latter is more common). [6]
Proper nouns are a class of words such as December, Canada, Leah, and Johnson that occur within noun phrases (NPs) that are proper names, [2] though not all proper names contain proper nouns (e.g., General Electric is a proper name with no proper noun).
Nouns are also created by converting verbs and adjectives, as with the words talk and reading (a boring talk, the assigned reading). Nouns are sometimes classified semantically (by their meanings) as proper and common nouns (Cyrus, China vs frog, milk) or as concrete and abstract nouns (book, laptop vs embarrassment, prejudice). [4]
a substitute for a noun or noun phrase (them, he). Pronouns make sentences shorter and clearer since they replace nouns. Adjective (describes, limits) a modifier of a noun or pronoun (big, brave). Adjectives make the meaning of another word (noun) more precise. Verb (states action or being)
The word preposition is from "Latin praepositionem (nominative praepositio) 'a putting before, a prefixing,' noun of action from past-participle stem of praeponere 'put before'," [7] the basic idea being that it is a word that comes before a noun.
A proper noun (sometimes called a proper name, though the two terms normally have different meanings) is a noun that represents a unique entity (India, Pegasus, Jupiter, Confucius, Pequod) – as distinguished from common nouns (or appellative nouns), which describe a class of entities (country, animal, planet, person, ship). [11]