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  • “Why Study Latin?” Series — Reason #4: SAT and ACT Scores

    “Why Study Latin?” Series — Reason #4: SAT and ACT Scores

    Latin Boosts SAT and ACT Scores

    While long-term Latin study has a variety of benefits, one in particular is most likely to get the attention of high-achieving students and parents — a significant increase in SAT and ACT scores. In previous articles in this series I’ve outlined precisely how Latin study improves students’ understanding and command of English vocabulary and grammar, which the SAT and ACT test in a very direct way. (In fact, students without a large English vocabulary and in-depth understanding of English grammar can’t possibly score well on the verbal part of these standardized tests.) I’ve also discussed how study of the Latin language develops students’ logical-thinking skills — which is also essential for success on these standardized tests. The structure and logic of the Latin sentence is so different from that of English that the process of translating sentences from Latin to English and English to Latin is necessarily quite complex. And while this makes Latin a more challenging language to learn (especially early on), this built-in complexity is hugely positive for the growth of students’ lateral-thinking abilities. Being forced to identify, apply, and reorganize a wide range of individual rules of grammar and information-points forces students to develop advanced logical-thinking skills. And unlike a broad knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, which is really only helpful on the verbal portion of the test, excellent logical-thinking skills give the student a huge boost on BOTH the verbal AND math sections of the SAT and ACT.  

    Students who’ve studied Latin for at least a year will see significant improvement in the following three areas:

    1) English Vocabulary
    2) English Grammar
    3) Logical-Thinking Skills

    Obviously, growth in these areas is beneficial to the student in myriad ways, making him or her far more successful not just in other subjects in school but later on in life in general. One specific (and important) benefit of these skill sets is improved performance on the SAT and ACT standardized tests. In fact, in my experience there’s nothing a student can do that’s more effective for boosting SAT/ACT scores than to study Latin.

    In the following article I’ll explain precisely how a solid knowledge of Latin improves students’ command of each of these three areas, then demonstrate how each plays a part in boosting standardized-test scores.

    English Vocabulary

    Approximately 56% of words in English are derived from Latin words, either directly borrowed from Latin or passed down through French. (Finkenstaedt 1973; Xiao 2020) In addition, many of the words in English with a Latin origin were later purposely Latinized, their spellings made to conform to the spellings of their Latin “parents”. These two characteristics of English allow students with a solid knowledge of Latin vocabulary to learn and remember English word spellings far more easily. Even more positive, though, is the significant improvement in the understanding of English word meanings. The vast majority of Latin words are combinations of shorter, more basic Latin words or of bases or stems with different prefixes added. The study of these components, their translations, and how they fit together gives Latin students insights into English word meanings that no other language can provide. I’ll do my best to illustrate these points with a couple examples.

    First, let’s look at verb stems and prefixes and how their combination creates new meanings. If we start with the fourth principal part of the following basic Latin verb:

    traho, trahere, traxi, TRACTUS (which means “drag”, “draw”, or “pull”)

    Then add the prefix “ex-” (which means “from” or “out”),

    It becomes:

    “ex-” (“out”) + “tractus” (“pull”) = “extractus” => “extract” (“pull out”)

    But if we switch the prefix to “con-” (which means “together”),

    It becomes:

    “con-” (“together”) + “tractus” (“pull”) = “contractus” => “contract” (“pull together”)

    Or if we switch it to “re-” (which means “back” or “again”),

    It becomes:

    “re-” (“back”) + “tractus” (“pull”) = “retractus” => “retract” (“pull back”)

    And this pattern holds across the entire Latin language. If a student knows the meaning of a basic Latin word and the meanings of a couple dozen Latin prefixes, then the student can quite easily guess the meanings of new verbs formed from a combination of the basic verb and a prefix. This then allows the student to guess the meanings of English words derived from these combination Latin verbs quite accurately. 

    Second, let’s take a look at how the meanings of non-verb Latin words compounded from multiple basic Latin words can also be guessed quite easily.  

    A good example is the English noun “equilibrium”, which comes from the Latin noun:

    “aequilibrium, -i”

    This is a combination of the adjective:

    “aequus, -a, -um” (“equal” or “even”)

    And the noun:

    “libra, -ae” (“balance”).

    And so together:

    “aequus” (“equal”) + “libra” (“balance”) = “aequilibrium” => “equilibrium” (“equal balance”)

    Another example is the English adjective “multilateral”, which comes from the Latin adjective:

    “multilateralis, -e”

    This is a combination of the adjective:

    “multus, -a, -um” (“many” or “much”)

    And the noun:

    “latus, lateris” (“side”).

    And so together:

    “multus” (“many”) + “lateris” (“side”) = “multilateralis” => “multilateral” (“many-sided”)

    This combining of multiple words into new longer words or of basic verbs with a limited number of prefixes is characteristic of the Latin language. And since the Latin student can’t help but develop an understanding of these patterns over time, it becomes extremely easy for him or her to guess the meanings of compound Latin words (and their English derivatives) accurately and with little effort. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that gaining an understanding of how Latin vocabulary works while simultaneously learning the meanings of a relatively small number of basic Latin words is the EASIEST and MOST EFFECTIVE way to expand one’s English vocabulary. As you might guess, this deeper understanding of Latin (and related English) vocabulary is a huge boon to any student looking to raise his or her SAT/ACT verbal test scores.

    English Grammar

    One of the best ways (if not the VERY best way) to learn the subtleties of English grammar is by studying Latin. Because the logic of a Latin sentence is so different from that of an English sentence, students are forced to move beyond their vague, intuitive understanding of grammar toward a clear, conscious understanding — translating between these two languages would be impossible otherwise. Most modern European languages, on the other hand, have a sentence structure so similar to that of English that students are (unfortunately) never forced to move very far beyond an intuitive understanding of sentence structure and grammar. 

    The following is a summary of the four basic English sentence templates. Though there are many variations, every English sentence or clause will fit into one of these four.

    1) subject – action verb – direct object – “to” – indirect object

    Ex.: “A man gives a present to the woman.”

    2) subject – action verb – indirect object – direct object

    Ex.: “A man gives the woman a present.”

    3) subject – linking verb – predicate nominative

    Ex. “The man is a teacher.”

    4) subject – linking verb – predicate adjective

    Ex.: “The man is tall.”

    English speakers have an intuitive understanding of these four templates, knowing the role that each noun has in the sentence by its position in the template. A Latin sentence, on the other hand, has a completely different structure and logic. Latin has all the same roles for nouns (subject, indirect object, direct object, possessive, etc.), but the role of a noun isn’t determined by its position in the sentence. Rather, the ending on the noun, which varies according to the noun’s case and number (singular or plural), determines the role. This concept becomes clearer in the following example.

    English Sentence: “The girl gives the girls a girl of the girls.”

    Latin Translation: “Puella dat puellis puellam puellarum.”

    I’ve used the same noun several times in this sentence as a way to make the structural differences between the two languages a bit clearer. As demonstrated in the four templates above, English indicates the role of each noun by its position in the sentence and/or an introductory word or words (e.g., “of”). The subject precedes the verb, the direct and indirect objects follow the verb, and the possessive is preceded by the word “of”. Latin, on the other hand, indicates the role of each noun by its ending. (“Puell-a” = subject; “puell-is” = indirect object; “puell-am” = direct object; “puell-arum” = possessive.) The upshot of this very different method of indicating the role of each noun is that the pieces of a Latin sentence don’t need to be in any particular order, and therefore the following variations on the Latin sentence all have the exact same meaning:

    “Puella dat puellis puellam puellarum.”

    “Puellarum puellam puella puellis dat.”

    “Dat puella puellam puellarum puellis.”

    “Puellis dat puellam puellarum puella.”

    And these are just some of the possible Latin translations! As you might guess, this structural difference makes it impossible for the student to translate between Latin and English without an extremely clear idea of the grammar of both languages. For this reason, Latin students have a far better grasp of English grammar overall than students of modern languages, and so tend to score much higher on the SAT and ACT verbal sections.

    Logical Skills

    Because translation from Latin to English (and vice versa) requires transporting meaning from a sentence with one type of structure to one with a completely different type of structure, the student is forced not just to acquire a detailed understanding of both but also to develop some very advanced logical skills. Unlike translation between English and most modern European languages, which doesn’t require the English-speaking student to move outside of an intuitive understanding of sentence structure, translation between English and Latin necessitates the comprehension and application of a wide range of grammatical rules in the context of a complex and ever-changing process.  

    This complex process of translation between Latin and English must be learned gradually over the course of years, and while this is clearly a significant time commitment, the benefits are great. Not only does the student learn the subtleties of English grammar and vocabulary far better than he or she would through study of a modern language, but at the same time, that student is forced to develop logical problem-solving skills that will make a huge difference on both parts (verbal AND math) of the SAT and ACT, raising the student’s scores significantly.

    Check out the main article in this series: Why Study Latin?

    References

    1. Finkenstaedt, Thomas; Wolff, Dieter (1973). Ordered Profusion: Studies in Dictionaries and the English Lexicon. C. Winter. p. 119. ISBN 3-533-02253-6.
    2. Xiao, Xiao (2020). “The study of loanwords in English”. Journal of Contemporary Educational Research. 4 (12): 36–43.

  • “Why Study Latin?” Series — Reason #1: English Vocabulary

    “Why Study Latin?” Series — Reason #1: English Vocabulary

    Latin Study Expands English Vocabulary

    Most high-achieving students would love to improve their English vocabulary. They know that a better understanding of the meaning and spelling of English words will lead to higher grades in a wide range of subjects and (perhaps more important to most learners and their parents) MUCH higher scores on standardized tests like the SAT and ACT. In fact, a broad and detailed understanding of English vocabulary is (probably more than anything else) what separates the highest-achieving students from the rest.

    It isn’t surprising that a good vocabulary is closely associated with improved academic achievement, but what most students and parents may not realize is that one of the best and easiest ways to learn and retain English vocabulary is through the study of Latin. Since the roots of English lie largely in Latin, gaining a solid understanding of the elements and logic of its vocabulary leads to a far better understanding of English vocabulary. This makes it much easier for the student to learn a wide range of English words and even guess (quite accurately) the meaning of words he or she has never seen before.

    But why is Latin such a great tool for learning English vocabulary? How exactly does this work?

    First of all, about 56 percent of English words are derived from Latin, either directly or through French, so the vocabulary link between the two languages is quite strong. (Finkenstaedt 1973; Xiao 2020) In addition, the Latin-derived words in English (unlike Latin-derived words in most other languages) have been purposely Latinized, their spellings largely conforming to the original Latin spelling, making it quite obvious which specific Latin word each English word was derived from.

    But how exactly does this help students understand the MEANINGS of English words? Well, the real key lies in the way Latin words are constructed.

    Most Latin words were assembled from a limited number of smaller pieces–combinations of more basic Latin words, or combinations of stems or bases and a small number of prefixes. Knowing the meanings of these pieces allows the student to guess the meaning of the larger Latin word quite accurately, which is then carried over to the related English word.

    A couple examples should make this clear.

    Example 1:

    The English word “invisible” comes from the Latin word: 

    “invisibilis, -e”

    Which is a combination of the fourth principal part of the verb:

    “video, videre, vidi, VISUS” (which means “see”)

    Plus the prefix “in-” (which means “not”),

    And so:

    “in-” (“not”) + “visus” (“see”) = “invisus” => “invisible” (“not seeable”)

    A basic knowledge of Latin allows students to discover the precise meaning of this English word by taking the meanings of the Latin pieces (the basic verb plus the prefix) and then putting those pieces together into a final combined meaning. This is just one of countless examples of English words whose meaning can be found and understood by digging down into the Latin roots.

    Example 2:

    Another example is the English word “magnanimous”, which comes from the Latin:

    “magnanimus, -a, -um”

    This is a combination of:

    “magnus, -a, -um” (“great”)

    And:

    “animus, -i” (“soul”).

    And so together:

    “magnus” (“great”) + “animus” (“soul”) = “magnanimus” => “magnanimous” (“great-souled”)

    This is a good example of Latin’s tendency toward compound words (new words formed by joining together two or more smaller words). Unfortunately, without a minimal understanding of Latin and the meanings of the two common Latin words fused together in the example above the meaning of the related English word will elude most students.

    The examples above are two of many thousands of English words that can be understood by breaking down the related Latin word into its component parts. Study of Latin reveals the actual roots and logic of English vocabulary and so makes it far easier for the student to learn new English vocabulary words and their meanings. This improves the speed and quality of the student’s English reading and writing and also boosts the student’s SAT/ACT scores.

    Because most students and parents are unaware that Latin is such an effective shortcut to English-vocabulary mastery, they generally settle for the highly inferior method of straight memorization of English words and their definitions. The reality is that most people are very bad at straight memorization, and since their attempts at memorizing English vocabulary in this way are in general so unsuccessful, the majority of students go into the SAT or ACT with one arm tied behind their backs. Students end up wasting countless hours trying to memorize long lists of vocabulary words that they’re unlikely to remember on test day or, realizing the uselessness of it all, just give up and settle for lower standardized-test scores.

    These same students, though, with just a couple years of Latin, will improve their English vocabulary knowledge far more than they could through straight memorization. The average human brain is far better at remembering the meanings of a limited number of words and/or roots that have been seen over and over (as happens with the study of Latin) and then recognizing the pieces when they appear in larger words and in this way understanding the meaning. To most students the word “magnanimous” is just an incomprehensible series of letters and/or sounds that the student is unlikely to have seen enough to know the meaning of, but to any first-year Latin student the meaning is obvious because he/she knows the meanings of the component parts. In the same way the meanings of compound English words like “backhand” and “Badlands” are obvious to English speakers who may never have heard or read those words before.

    Of course, the improved understanding of English vocabulary that comes with the study of Latin isn’t just helpful on standardized tests. It also contributes to long-term success in a variety of subjects and even helps the student at the college level and later on in life. There is a crisis of illiteracy in America. According to a 2017 PIAAC study 54% of American adults read below a sixth-grade level, and only 32% of university freshmen read at a 12th-grade level. (PIACC 2017) In an article in The Atlantic, Columbia professor Nicholas Dames states that many of his students now struggle to comprehend and finish books. Professors at UC Berkeley and Georgetown voice similar concerns in the same article. (Horowitch 2024) Obviously, a major part of the problem is the poor English-vocabulary knowledge of these students, and one of the best and most realistic ways to improve that vocabulary knowledge is to study Latin.

    Check out the main article in this series: Why Study Latin?

    References

    1. Finkenstaedt, Thomas; Wolff, Dieter (1973). Ordered Profusion: Studies in Dictionaries and the English Lexicon. C. Winter. p. 119. ISBN 3-533-02253-6.
    2. Xiao, Xiao (2020). “The study of loanwords in English”. Journal of Contemporary Educational Research. 4 (12): 36–43.
    3. Highlights of the 2017 U.S. PIAAC Results (Report). United States Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. 2017. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
    4. Horowitch, Rose. “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.” The Atlantic, November 2024 (published online October 1, 2024).

  • Why Study Latin?

    Why Study Latin?

    What foreign language should my student study?

    If you assert that Latin is not only highly useful but in fact the best foreign-language choice for the vast majority of English-speaking students, the response will (in most cases) be one of skepticism and even mockery. People may respond that Latin is a “dead language” and so useless to the twenty-first century students. If you then ask people what language the student should study instead, they will probably respond with a variation on one of the following:

    1) English is the dominant world language, and so foreign-language-learning (whether modern or ancient) is unnecessary, or

    2) Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, or Arabic are spoken by large numbers of people in the world today, so any of them would be a far better choice than a useless “dead language”.

    Should I even bother to study a foreign language?

    Both of these responses seem reasonable at first. The first response, which (unfortunately) is the dominant attitude of those who control primary and secondary school curriculum and even English-speakers in general, makes sense in a very superficial way. If I already know English, which the rest of the world speaks or is learning to speak anyway, why would I bother to study another language? The second response is typical of a much smaller group of people who are more academically ambitious but still ill-informed. If I do try to learn a foreign language, then shouldn’t it be a language many other people already speak?

    Of course, the reality is that foreign-language education is rarely taken very seriously in the English-speaking world and the number of students who actually learn to speak another language is so low that it’s easy to dismiss the many hundreds of hours students spend on foreign-languages study as a complete waste of time. I would argue, though, that the one language that most definitely ISN’T a waste of time is Latin, and if you’re lucky enough to have a competent teacher, then it’s the best language choice you can possibly make. But why? What does Latin offer the student that other languages can’t or are unlikely to offer?

    1) English Vocabulary

    A better command of English vocabulary is a primary goal of most high-achieving students. These students understand how vital advanced vocabulary knowledge is for their overall academic success in a wide range of subjects (English, writing, history, science, etc.) as well as their success on standardized tests (SAT, ACT, etc.). What they usually don’t understand, though, is that there’s no better and more effective way to achieve this goal than the study of Latin. The roots of English words lie largely in Latin (56% of English words are derived from Latin), and so a strong understanding of Latin vocabulary and the internal logic of Latin words is key to understanding English vocabulary and increasing one’s command of it. (Finkenstaedt 1973; Xiao 2020)

    For more information on this point, please click over to my article on Improved English Vocabulary in the “Why Learn Latin?” Series.

    2) Understanding of English Grammar

    This will seem counterintuitive to most people, but BECAUSE Latin grammar is so different from English grammar in so many ways, it helps students understand English grammar far BETTER than most modern languages do, whose grammar is much closer to that of English than Latin is. The contrast between the sentence structure of English and Latin forces students to get beyond their intuitive understanding of English to a detailed, conscious understanding. In fact, I would argue that the primary reason for the general decline in English-grammar understanding is the simultaneous decrease in the number of students who study Latin. Latin is an excellent teacher of English grammar because, through this very contrast, it reveals the logic and structure of the English language.

    For more details, click over to my article on Improved Understanding of English Grammar in the “Why Learn Latin?” Series.

    3) Logical Skills

    The significant difference in structure between an English and a Latin sentence not only forces the student to understand the grammar of both languages better but also to develop advanced logical skills. When a student translates from Latin to English or English to Latin, that student is transferring the sentence’s meaning from a language with one type of sentence structure to a language with an entirely different one. Because the two languages are so different in this way, the student cannot rely on his/her intuitive understanding of sentence structure. This barrier forces students to get beyond the intuitive and develop a more detailed and conscious understanding of how both structural systems work. The mastery of the process of translation from one language to the other then leads to better overall logical-thinking skills that can be applied to many other subjects and disciplines.

    Click over to my Improved Logical Skills article in the “Why Learn Latin?” Series for a more detailed explanation.

    4) SAT/ACT Scores (Both Verbal and Math)

    The advantages of Latin study are many and various, but the one argument for choosing Latin over other foreign languages that gets students’ and parents’ attention more than any other is the almost certain significant increase in standardized-test scores. Not only does Latin greatly improve the student’s command of English vocabulary and grammar, which on their own drive up SAT or ACT scores for very obvious reasons, but it also gives the student extensive training in the sort of logical-thinking skills that are essential for success on these tests. As I explained in point #3, learning and then applying the complex process of translation from Latin to English or English to Latin forces the student to develop lateral-thinking skills that most students in this day and age never develop. For better or worse a student’s success on the SAT or ACT depends just as much on that student’s general test-taking skills and efficiency as on actual knowledge of English grammar/vocabulary and math, skills that can be learned and applied successfully only if the student has already developed the logical-thinking abilities that Latin is so good at instilling.

    Click over to my Improved SAT Scores (Both Verbal and Math) article in the “Why Learn Latin?” Series to learn more.

    5) Easier to Learn Modern Languages

    It will come as something of a surprise to most students and their parents that one of the best ways to guarantee success in a modern language (like Spanish, French, or even Mandarin Chinese) is to study Latin first. A background in Latin streamlines the study of modern languages and makes it FAR more likely that the student will retain what he/she learns and so achieve actual fluency in the language. As I mentioned above, Latin forces the student to develop both a detailed understanding of grammar and advanced lateral-thinking skills, which are essential for success in modern languages. Unfortunately, standard modern-language instruction does its best to avoid teaching grammar, considering this to be too challenging for the contemporary student. Despite the clear benefits of a deeper, more detailed understanding of the grammar of a modern language, standard curriculum does whatever it can to teach the language while not teaching WHAT the language is, focusing on vague intuitive mastery at the expense of TRUE mastery.

    Check out my Makes It Much Easier to Learn a Modern Language article in the “Why Learn Latin?” Series, where I dive much more deeply into this topic.

    6) Western Literature

    The final reason to study Latin is one that (unfortunately) most students and parents care very little about, though it may be the best argument of all. For almost 2,000 years(all the way up to the nineteenth century) Latin was the common language of the West and so the language of more literature (whether history or fiction or poetry or science) than any other. A student who studies Latin in a serious way and achieves a high level in the language gains direct access to a raft of important literature. And while it’s clearly possible to read these works in translation, understanding the original language gives the reader insights into the text that he/she wouldn’t otherwise have access to. In addition, study of Latin exposes the student to authors and works that he/she would be unlikely to read otherwise. People who have never been exposed to authors like Caesar, Livy, Virgil, or Bede can’t possibly understand how valuable their perspective is and, in general, how vital it is to understand the perspective of ancient and medieval writers if one is to understand the modern world.

    Take a look at Access to 2000 Years of Western Literature in the “Why Learn Latin?” Series for a more detailed analysis of this topic.

    References

    1. Finkenstaedt, Thomas; Wolff, Dieter (1973). Ordered Profusion: Studies in Dictionaries and the English Lexicon. C. Winter. p. 119. ISBN 3-533-02253-6.
    2. Xiao, Xiao (2020). “The study of loanwords in English”. Journal of Contemporary Educational Research. 4 (12): 36–43.