Understanding the Latin Passage
You see above the upper part of the screen visible in Latin without Tears. To get started, you click on Older Passages or New OCR Passages and select one of the 106 passages available. This is displayed in the passage box. By left-clicking on a word in the passage and then clicking the mouse on the passage buttons to the right, you can receive different kinds of information to help you understand the passage:
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Clicking the Meaning Button provides a standard, dictionary meaning for the Latin word:
If there is something of special grammatical, historical or mythological interest about the word, there is a Note Button which provides further information. For example, there is an 91-word note on Callicrates describing his life and death:
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The Hint Button provides a brief grammatical tip on the word selected in the passage:
Again, a Note Button provides detailed help on any point of interest. For instance, all constructions are explained exhaustively and possible literal and semi-literal suggestions for translation are presented:
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The Principal Parts Button exhibits the principal parts of all regular and irregular Verbs:
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The Grammar Button exhibits the entire grammar of all Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives encountered in the passages, however irregular they may be:
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The Analysis Button exhibits the structure of each sentence in a special window, showing the role of each word and labelling all constructions. Numbers indicate the order in which to take the Latin words for a literal translation:
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The English Button provides a semi-literal translation of the Latin sentence, sometimes with helpful alternative renderings:
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Keyboard shortcuts
To speed up your work, there are several keyboard shortcuts. Using these means that you do not have to keep moving your hands away from the keyboard and shifting the mouse from one side of the screen to the other. The shortcuts often consist of the Control Key + the letter underlined on the matching button on screen. Here is a summary of the available keyboard shortcuts:
| CTRL + M | Meaning Button |
| CTRL + H | Hint Button |
| CTRL + P | Principal Parts Button |
| CTRL + G | Grammar Button |
| CTRL + Y | Analysis Button |
| CTRL + E | English Button |
| ENTER | Dismisses a dialogue box on screen |
| TAB | Selects Latin words moving forward in the Passage |
| CTRL + TAB | Selects Latin words moving backwards in the Passage |
| ESCAPE | Toggles from Passage Box to Translation Box and back |
