Questions About Exercises

[Tuilinde]

Please note everyone, I have separated all the questions from the actual Exercises, because it's becoming difficult to find the Exercises, and I think it will save time to separate them.

I am trusting that no one will be offended by my copying them into this section, (It's the only way to keep them in the correct order!) and then we can delete them from the Exercises section, and things will be clearer and easier.
I have not altered anything, just copied and pasted, making sure I've inserted the original author and date.

I hope that makes sense!

Please put new comments, corrections and questions into this section.

Tuilinde

I will now ask the administrator to delete the originals.

[Tuilinde]

Posted by Huanarmo. Thurs. Dec 31 2009

Hantanyel, Tuilinde.

I've printed out the lessons - which avoids any temptation to peek at answers on line - and they're great. Thank you so much.

Being encouraged to use the Quettaparma Quenyallo is a very good thing. It's a constant reminder of synonyms and variant forms, and the editorial notes are excellent. Did Helge Fauskanger prepare this all on his own? Even if there was a small team, it's a phenomenal achievement.

I've set myself a pass mark of 80% and managed that on Lesson 1. There were a couple of words I messed up, plus one that provided one of those valuable lessons in humility that we all need. I breezed over istyar, thinking "Of course I know that one". Looking over the answers I realised I had been thinking of istar. As a student, I'm certainly no wizard!

The good thing is I won't get up in front of an audience and proclaim myself a wizard when I mean to announce myself as a humble student.

Namárië from your grateful though red-faced istyar.

[Tuilinde]

Posted by Huanarmo. Thurs. Jan 28 2010

Tuilinde, these exercises are great. Thank you for putting them on the site; they are a perfect complement to the course-work.

I worked away at the first five while on holidays, and I plan to complete the next five before going back to work next week. To tell the truth, I made quite a few mistakes, but the good thing is I generally understand where I went wrong and that teaches far more than simply being presented with an example and moving on to another topic.

I've made notes on a few points from each lesson, and if it's all right with you I'll post them up one lesson at a time. These relate to Lesson 2.

There's a general question I'd like to ask about the dual form. Is the -u ending an acceptable alternative wherever it provides a more appealing sound? Or is its use more restricted, for example, to words with -d- or -t- in their final syllable?

To put this into more concrete terms, I wrote mindonet and roquenet rather than mindonu and roquenu respectively. Now, I can see that the latter forms are more euphonious - our favourite word again! - and if that is what governs the usage then I'm well content. The question I have is whether the two -et forms would be acceptable, or are they just plain wrong?

I particularly liked 'twin peaks' and 'sister ships'. Those usages really help to reinforce what the dual forms can express. Beautifully chosen!

And just a couple of final queries, if I may:
- should oronti be orontu in the 'twin peaks' example?
- should hín be hína or are these alternative forms of the singular for 'child'?
- for 'the two captains' I wrote i hestu. Is this an acceptable alternative to i hestot?

Hantanyel

[Tuilinde]

Posted by Huanarmo Fri. 29th Jan 2010

Alla Tuilinde,

I made a fair fist of the third lesson - and once again, thanks for preparing them. My only comment is that there are three answers missing from the Answers section, which you may like to add.

Now, this will be proof of whether I've grasped the principles for intensifying and creating superlatives for adjectives. I'll give you my answers, and you may adjudge whether they're fit to add to the Answers page. And I welcome any feedback, as ever.

After antaura ~ artaura, add:
- anafirin ~ arifirin [ < firin ]
- anúrin ~ arúrin [ < úrin ]

After anarca ~ ararca, add:
- antelepsa ~ artelepsa [ < telepsa ]

Please take all the time you wish answering these. I'm replying while the lesson is fresh in the brain, but it doesn't mean you have to check them out all at once.

Nai elen caluva tielyanna.

[Tuilinde]

Posted by Tuilinde 29 Jan 2010

Aiya Huanarmo!

Right, well done, you spotted three mistakes in my Answers - I've been back and corrected them. Yes, it should be orontu,(I think that one was a typo!) and of course it should be hestu both of them because there's a t in the final syllable.

Either answer is fine for mindon and roquen.

Thorsten says "u. . . can easily be appended to any noun ending in a consonant"

Hína is the word for child except when it is part of a compound, when the a is lost. For the dual, the u replaces the a

*Alacarna! (Well done!)

Tuilinde

[Tuilinde]

Posted by Tuilinde 29 Jan 2010

You are right that two of the adjectives were missing - and I've gone back to the Exercise and added a note to the effect that firin and telepsa should be omitted. One is either dead or not - one cannot be more or less dead, and so the exercise is not appropriate to this adjective, as it is also to telepsa.
I should have put in a note about it, and have now done so.

úrin was in the wrong place, and I've moved it.

IF you were to add an intensive or superlative to an adjective beginning with an f, I think one would assimilate the n. So finca (clever) would probably become affinca rather than anafinca.

I may even go back and put that one in as a useful example.

[Tuilinde]

[Tuilinde]

Posted by Huanarmo Sun 31 Jan 2010

Aiya Tuilinde,

Just one tiny thing in this lesson: lir should be in the list of primary verbs (No. 6 in the question sequence). Líra / lírar appear as the sixth answer, it's just the question that's missing.

I was pleased to learn the verb for 'chant'. It's one I'm sure to use, so thanks once again.

[Tuilinde]

Posted by Huanarmo Sun 31 Jan 2010

Aiya Tuilinde,

I was brought back to earth in this lesson. I managed to replace the -a ending each time with -ëa and got the plurals right, but blithely extended the stem vowel every single time. So, on the law of averages, I got half of them wrong. Somehow I overlooked the fact that lengthening doesn't occur when two consonants follow, and this is clearly covered in Thorsten Renk's lesson as well as your own introductory note. So that was careless of me, but it shows the value of having practice examples to work on.

There are a couple of very minor things I noticed in the verb stems in the first part of this exercise:
- lelya- is missing from spot No. 4 in the question list (lelyëa / lelyëar are fourth in the list of answers);
- should there be long vowel marks in the stems píca- and véla- ?

Please don't think I'm nit-picking; or, rather, please tell me if I am! I've made a habit of looking up the words I don't know in the Quettaparma Quenyallo, and that's where I noticed long vowel marks. It's the same in English: it's been a lifelong habit to look up the dictionary when I come across a word I don't know, and likewise if I'm unsure of a spelling. Time-consuming, yes, but well worth the effort. Plus I marvel at the work and level of detail that has gone into the Quettaparma; it's a pleasure to use. It must have been so much harder to study Quenya before a work like this became available.

Blessings!

[Tuilinde]

Posted by Tuilinde Mon 01 Feb 2010

Huanarmo,

please continue to nit-pick! I need a nitpicker, as there is no point in having these exercises if they're full of errors of whatever kind. And I am concerned to get them corrected at once, so that anyone else following in your footsteps will not be led astray!

As for your comments on Lesson five - be comforted, it's one I keep having to go back to and check. If it's any further comfort, I find that I use this less than other tenses when actually composing. Though perhaps that's why I have difficulty remembering the rules!!
And carry on checking the wordlist, I make it an absolute rule when I'm composing - although clearly I didn't check those two verbs!!!