No student or teacher of Latin should be without this book.
We learn language best by imitating good examples. This rich handbook helps you to learn how Latin works by presenting you with many hundreds of examples, mostly in ordinary language that is simple, everyday, and conversational. It proceeds from English to Latin (How would you put this common English structure or expression into Latin?) rather than the reverse (What in the world is this Latin supposed to mean?). Thus you start from what you already know to gain insight into what you do not know.
This book's special strength is an all-too-neglected part of Latin teaching today: focus on the very common and very necessary "little words" of speech, the particles (such as prepositions and conjunctions, words like whether, very, what, either...or, such, and much). Without establishing a good sense of the usage of these kinds of connectives, your understanding will be painfully impeded. What is given in this book is essential for any satisfying mastery of the Latin language, in reading, composition, or conversation.
A great abundance of short phrases and sentences, all presented here bilingually, gives you, far better than any current grammar can, the opportunity to get the idea of how the Latin idiom compares to the English one. Spending time with these manageable, bite-sized, entirely unintimidating "chunks" of Latin will increase your confidence and prepare you to read Latin fluently later.
This practice and reference book for Latin learners is a revision of Thomas Dyche's English Particles Latinized (1713), which was itself a rewriting and helpful condensation of A Treatise of English Particles by William Walker (1623-1684). It is perfect for those students, teachers, and independent scholars looking for a phrase-based approach to Latin acquisition.
