Page:Latin for beginners (1911).djvu/211

GENITIVE AND ABLATIVE OF QUALITY 187 In Latin the expression of quality or description is very similar. The prepositions of and with suggest the genitive and the ablative respectively, and we translate the sentences above There is, however, one important difference between the Latin and the English. In English we may say, for example, a man of courage, using the descriptive phrase without an adjective modifier. In Latin, however, an adjective modifier must always be used, as above.

a. Latin makes a distinction between the use of the two cases in that numerical descriptions of measure are in the genitive and descriptions of physical characteristics are in the ablative. Other descriptive phrases may be in either case.

442.

443. Genitive of Description. Numerical descriptions of measure are expressed by the genitive with a modifying adjective.

444. Ablative of Description. Descriptions of physical characteristics are expressed by the ablative with a modifying adjective.

445. Genitive or Ablative of Description. Descriptions involving neither numerical statements nor physical characteristics may be expressed by either the genitive or the ablative with a modifying adjective.

446.