Paine and Mainwaring Latin Grammar - Adjectives

Is your student struggling to accord their Latin adjectives? Are you wishing that you had some extra excercises to practice with - maybe not even just adjectives, but even declensions and reading comprehension?

Then this little book is perfect for you! Although the main focus will always be adjectives, you'll have the chance to practice declining words (with adjectives), declining verbs, and answering some short reading comprehension questions (in Latin!).

The material was orignially part of a much bigger book, written by Walter Lionel Paine and Cyril Lyttleton from Oxford University. Originally published in 1912, it has since gone out of print. I nonetheless decided to break it into smaller pieces and do some editing - although most of the content is theirs, the formatting and vocabulary lists are all my own.

There are four sections in total: agreeing adjectives with nouns, agreeing adjectives in general, and two sections for agreeing the especially tricky third declension. In each section you will find a short text, written by the original authors; a list of vocabulary, provided by me; and some exercises (declining adjectives/words or verbs, and reading comprehension).

Note that this would NOT be useful for learning about what these adjectives are and how to decline them - this is only to practice what you already know! No information on what they are is provided.

Although this book is considered ‘Primus Annus’, there is quite a bit of vocabulary in it which early first year students may not understand. I would recommend using this late in the first year of study: or, presuming that it took longer than a year to reach this level, basically in the period just before beginning Caesar, or slightly before. I would not say to use it as a transition: it’s a bit too simple for that. Perhaps if your student is struggling with Caesar you might use this as well, for extra practice at a more familiar level