Study Guide

Field 123: Latin 
Sample Selected-Response Questions

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Test Directions for the Selected-Response Questions

This section of the test is a reading section with selected-response questions, each of which has four answer choices. Read each question and answer choice carefully and choose the  start uppercase ONE end uppercase  best answer.

Try to answer all questions. In general, if you have some knowledge about a question, it is better to try to answer it. You will  start uppercase NOT end uppercase  be penalized for guessing.

Sample Selected-Response Questions

 start bold Read the passage below from Sallust's Bellum Iugurthinum, in which the author discusses the relationship between the Roman senate and the people; then answer the five questions that follow. end bold 

bellum iugurthinum passage
 line 1  Ceterum mos partium et factionum ac deinde omnium
 line 2  malarum artium paucis ante annis Romae ortus est otio
 line 3  atque abundantia earum rerum, quae prima mortales
 line 4  ducunt. Nam ante Carthaginem deletam populus et
 line 5  senatus Romanus placide modesteque inter se rem
 line 6  publicam tractabant, neque gloriae neque dominationis
 line 7  certamen inter cives erat: metus hostilis in bonis artibus
 line 8  civitatem retinebat. Sed ubi illa formido sup 1  mentibus decessit,
 line 9  scilicet ea, quae res secundae amant, lascivia atque
 line 10  superbia incessere. Ita quod in adversis rebus optaverant
 line 11  otium, postquam adepti sup 2  sunt, asperius acerbiusque fuit.
 line 12  Namque coepere nobilitas dignitatem, populus libertatem
 line 13  in libidinem vertere, sibi quisque ducere trahere rapere.
 line 14  Ita omnia in duas partes abstracta sunt, res publica, quae
 line 15  media fuerat, dilacerata.

 sup 1 formido, -inis: fear

 sup 2 adipiscor, adipisci, adeptus: obtain

Competency 0003 
Demonstrate literal comprehension of a variety of culturally authentic texts (e.g., e-mails, posters, Web sites, maps, graphs, periodicals, literature).

1. In which of the following cases is the word "Romae" (line 2) in the passage?

  1. genitive
  2. dative
  3. nominative
  4. locative

correct response: d. the custom arose ("ortus est") "at rome," a use of the locative.

Competency 0003 
Demonstrate literal comprehension of a variety of culturally authentic texts (e.g., e-mails, posters, Web sites, maps, graphs, periodicals, literature).

2. According to the author, which of the following effects came about "ubi illa formido mentibus decessit" (line 8)?

  1. Romans no longer feared foreign enemies.
  2. Romans became more focused on personal gain.
  3. Romans used their leisure to travel more.
  4. Romans began to dislike each other.

correct response: b. according to lines 12–13 ("coepere … sibi quisque ducere trahere rapere"), each began to lead, carry off and snatch for himself ("sibi"), focusing more on personal gain than the needs of the commonwealth.

Competency 0003 
Demonstrate literal comprehension of a variety of culturally authentic texts (e.g., e-mails, posters, Web sites, maps, graphs, periodicals, literature).

3. In the passage, what part of speech are the words "asperius" and "acerbius" (line 11)?

  1. participles
  2. adjectives
  3. nouns
  4. prepositions

correct response: b. the words "asperius" and "acerbius" are neuter comparative adjectives modifying "otium" (leisure), which had been desired in hard times, but once acquired grew "more bitter and sharp."

Competency 0004 
Infer meaning and analyze information from a variety of culturally authentic texts (e.g., e-mails, posters, Web sites, maps, graphs, periodicals, literature).

4. Which of the following figures of speech is represented in the phrase "ducere trahere rapere" (line 13)?

  1. chiasmus
  2. consonance
  3. asyndeton
  4. polysyndeton

correct response: c. in the phrase, the three infinitives "ducere," "trahere," and "rapere" appear in succession without the usual connecting word such as the conjunction "and." this omission of connector is an example of asyndeton.

Competency 0004 
Infer meaning and analyze information from a variety of culturally authentic texts (e.g., e-mails, posters, Web sites, maps, graphs, periodicals, literature).

5. Which of the following statements best summarize the author's point of view in the passage?

  1. Rome needed foreign enemies in order to maintain order in the state.
  2. The senate and people of Rome could not govern well in peacetime.
  3. Romans, by their very nature, were focused on personal gain.
  4. The Roman senate should have used fear to control the people.

correct response: a. in lines 7–8, sallust writes, "metus hostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat" ("fear of an enemy kept the state in good virtue"). the first half of the passage describes how well rome functioned before carthage was destroyed as an enemy ("populus et senatus romanus placide modesteque inter se rem publicam tractabant"). in the second half of the passage, sallust describes how, once carthage was destroyed, dignity and liberty turned to lust and each began to focus on his own personal gain, factionalism was rife, and the unity of the state was torn asunder ("omnia in duas partes abstracta sunt, res publica, quae media fuerat, dilacerata").

Competency 0005 
Apply knowledge of the process of language acquisition and how it relates to the language learner in the classroom.

6. In their studies of second-language learners, Stephen Pit Corder and Larry Selinker used, respectively, the terms "idiosyncratic dialect" and "interlanguage" for:

  1. the addition of borrowed lexical items that occurs in multilingual communities and workplaces.
  2. an individual learner's systematic and evolving understanding of the target language.
  3. a set of strategies that native speakers develop for communication with nonnative speakers.
  4. the simplified form of the target language that teachers and students use in a classroom.

correct response: b. in the late 1960s and early 1970s, pit corder worked with error analysis to develop hypotheses about second-language acquisition. he coined the term "idiosyncratic dialect" to represent a language learner's mastery of a new language at a given point in the language acquisition process: idiosyncratic in that it was unique to the individual learner and a dialect in that it possessed many characteristics of the target language. selinker introduced the term "interlanguage" in a 1972 article, further developing pit corder's work on cognitive theory of language acquisition. response b is an accurate summary of both concepts.

Competency 0006 
Select and apply teaching and assessment strategies that provide students with opportunities to communicate in the target language in meaningful and authentic ways and that promote students' ability to make connections and comparisons and to participate in community life.

7. In an intermediate-level Latin class, which of the following instructional strategies would best promote meaningful communication in Latin among students?

  1. creating a Web site that students can use to catch up with lessons and homework
  2. posting basic greetings and classroom commands in Latin on the classroom walls
  3. leading students in choral reading of famous short Latin poems and speeches
  4. having students write, rehearse, and present short skits in Latin about everyday life

correct response: d. when students work to design, practice, and present short skits in latin, they are led to use latin together to communicate meaningfully within the group and to communicate with other members of the class during their performance.