CHAPTER VII.—Word-order and Sentence-Structure.

A. WORD-ORDER.

[348]. In the normal arrangement of the Latin sentence the Subject stands at the beginning of the sentence, the Predicate at the end; as,—

Dārīus classem quīngentārum nāvium comparāvit, Darius got ready a fleet of five hundred ships.

[349]. But for the sake of emphasis the normal arrangement is often abandoned, and the emphatic word is put at the beginning, less frequently at the end of the sentence; as,—

magnus in hōc bellō Themistoclēs fuit, GREAT was Themistocles in this war;

aliud iter habēmus nūllum, other course we have NONE.

SPECIAL PRINCIPLES.

[350]. 1. Nouns. A Genitive or other oblique case regularly follows the word upon which it depends. Thus:—

a) Depending upon a Noun:—

tribūnus plēbis, tribune of the plebs;

fīlius rēgis, son of the king;

vir magnī animī, a man of noble spirit.