VCE Latin cheat sheet

Case functions to test first: nominative = subject/complement; accusative = direct object, motion towards, extent; genitive = possession, partitive, objective/subjective with verbal nouns; dative = indirect object, advantage, agent with gerundive; ablative = separation, instrument, manner, absolute; vocative = address.

Ablative absolute = noun/pronoun + participle or adjective in the ablative, grammatically detached from the main clause; translate with 'with/after/when/since/although', choosing the connector from context, not from form alone.

Indirect statement (oratio obliqua) uses an accusative subject plus infinitive; tense of the infinitive is relative to the main verb (present = same time, perfect = earlier, future = later).

Purpose clauses take ut/ne + present or imperfect subjunctive (sequence of tenses); result clauses take ut/ut non with a correlative (tam, tantus, ita, sic) in the main clause.

Fear clauses: ne + subjunctive = 'that ... may/might'; ne non or ut = 'that ... not'. Verbs of fearing (timeo, metuo, vereor) trigger this idiom.

Indirect questions use a subjunctive verb introduced by an interrogative word (quis, quid, cur, ubi, num, an); distinguish from direct questions, which keep indicative or imperative mood.

Conditions: indicative in simple/open conditions; present or imperfect subjunctive in ideal conditions; pluperfect or imperfect subjunctive in past contrary-to-fact conditions (imperfect = present contrary to fact, pluperfect = past).

Gerundive (future passive participle) expresses obligation with esse (passive periphrastic) or purpose/necessity; gerund is the verbal noun in oblique cases and is used where the gerundive would agree with an object.

Prescribed text study requires locating a passage's argument or narrative structure, identifying speaker, addressee, and context, and citing Latin words as evidence for every interpretive claim.

External assessment consists of two equally weighted components: a language paper (unseen translation and comprehension/grammar) and a literature paper on the prescribed texts; each contributes 50 per cent of the study score.

Unseen translation is marked for accurate rendering of syntax (cases, moods, tenses, clauses) and for English that reads naturally; literal word-for-word glossing loses marks where it obscures sense.

Comprehension questions on an unseen passage are answered from the Latin text; answers must be supported by quotation or line reference where the question asks for evidence.

Grammar and syntax questions ask candidates to name a construction and explain its function in context; naming the form without stating its effect in the sentence is incomplete.

Literature answers must address the exact question asked, use Latin quotation as evidence, and analyse literary features (imagery, word order, sound, rhetorical figures) rather than retell the plot.

An analysis of a prescribed passage should state the passage's function in the work as a whole, identify tone and speaker, and connect stylistic choices to meaning.

Essay responses are structured around an argument sustained across the whole response; each paragraph should advance a claim supported by quoted Latin and commentary.

Marks in translation are allocated per clause or sense unit, so leaving a clause untranslated forfeits marks that cannot be recovered elsewhere in the passage.