Latin Beyond GCSE

Product Information

A new edition of this popular textbook aimed at intermediate students, especially those taking Latin AS or A Level, or university students who have taken beginners Latin courses. John Taylor was for many years Head of Classics at Tonbridge School, UK, and now teaches Classics at Manchester University, UK. John Taylor is the author of 'Greek to GCSE' Parts 1 and 2, 'Greek Beyond GCSE', 'Essential GCSE Latin' and (with Stephen Anderson) 'Greek Unseen Translation'. Chapter Six, entitled ‘Readings’, contains the same passages as in the first edition, but laid out in a much more reader-friendly way; the reference grammar and summaries of syntax likewise contain no (perceptible) changes of substance, but are easier to read. Latin Beyond GCSE covers all the linguistic requirements for the OCR AS-level in Latin, and the grammar for A2.

It could also be used as a revision guide by students but they would need to get feedback from a teacher to see how they’ve done.We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

I chose it particularly for the Latin-English translation exercises, which are varied and useful, and I have no regrets. Unfamiliar words are again glossed; since there is no official OCR vocabulary list for A2, the criterion now for glossing is that the word does not appear in the vocabulary list in the back of the book. Instead, what we have as far as the content is concerned is the first edition revised only to the extent of certain additions and removals needed to bring it into line with the new OCR specifications (for AS from 2017 (so of limited usefulness for 2017 candidates), for A level from 2018).It is important to note that it is concerned only with language requirements; the prescription at both AS and A2 level also includes the study of prose and verse set texts. If there is a decline, it is in the numbers of students who take Latin to this level, to the extent that even Oxford and Cambridge now offer beginners courses. p. 21), and the logic behind the various rules (why does dum take the present indicative in unlikely places?

The prescribed list of accidence and syntax is in fact the same at both levels, though A2 “requires understanding of more complex structures”. The English-Latin sentences, which are an alternative to the Cicero unseens, are of the type already met in the previous chapters. Taylor is a firm believer in the value of English-Latin translation: “Translating into Latin may seem difficult at first, but it is the best way to get to know the language properly and to test your understanding of it. I started a Classics degree from scratch at 18 after having never studied it in my life and this made it so simple.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.