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a. In the same way decline together fīlia parva.

68. Latin Word Order. The order of words in English and in Latin sentences is not the same.

In English we arrange words in a fairly fixed order. Thus, in the sentence My daughter is getting dinner for the farmers, we cannot alter the order of the words without spoiling the sentence. We can, however, throw emphasis on different words by speaking them with more force. Try the effect of reading the sentence by putting special force on my, daughter, dinner, farmers.

In Latin, where the office of the word in the sentence is shown by its ending (cf. §32.1), and not by its position, the order of words is more free, and position is used to secure the same effect that in English is secured by emphasis of voice. To a limited extent we can alter the order of words in English, too, for the same purpose.

Compare the sentences


 * I saw a game of football at Chicago last November (normal order)
 * Last November I saw a game of football at Chicago
 * At Chicago, last November, I saw a game of football

1. In a Latin sentence the most emphatic place is the first next in importance is the last; the weakest point is the middle. Generally the subject is the most important word, and is placed first usually the verb is the next in importance, and is placed last. The other words of the sentence stand between these two in the order of their importance. Hence the normal order of words — that is, where no unusual emphasis is expressed — is as follows:

subject — modifiers of the subject — indirect object — direct object — adverb — verb

Changes from the normal order are frequent, and are due to the desire for throwing emphasis upon some word or phrase. Notice the order of the