Principal parts and cutting corners
Maybe it is just me, but I find it difficult to memorize hyphenated principal part forms (i.e. praetexo, -ere, -ui, -xtus) on memrise, even for words that already know very well. Cutting corners here is not doing anyone any favors. Could some of us curators make an effort to fix some of these vocabulary issues by filling in the complete principal part forms, like they do on Greek flash cards? Also, if you are submitting new words could you make a mental note to do that as well? Unless, that is, I am the only one having problems with this. Just know, you are not going to see any hyphens when you are out translating real Vergil. It's best to memorize things right the first time.
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I've been putting my sets in full. If I see others I'll take note - I think you're right. One thing I've noticed in Textbooks is that this is done for most verbs except for 1st conjugation. These, due to their regularity, are often just given in the infinitive.
Posted by Parso13 8/1/12 (9 months ago)Yes. Exactly. Thanks.
Posted by agwilson27 8/1/12 (9 months ago)I don't know that this is really cutting corners, it is pretty standard in grammars and dictionaries and it saves a LOT of space. As long as you say it out loud, I think the memorization is just as easy.
Of course, I agree that every irregular principal part ought to be spelled out.
Posted by jhf884 9/18/12 (8 months ago)I think it depends if the verb is regular or not: for most 3rd conjugation verbs I would be inclined to write them out in full, but with regular 1,2& 4 I think abbreviation encourages us to see patterns.
Posted by jemgeach 11/22/12 (5 months ago)