Re: More on Participles . . .

Rod Decker (rdecker@bbc.edu)
Wed, 29 Oct 1997 15:03:27 -0500

Carl, followed by Don, said,

>>In sum then, I think I'd say that an aorist participle preceding a main
>>verb in narrative very common indicates action prior to that of the main
>>verb--but not necessarily is this always the case--and that it is less
>>likely to be the case when you have a participle FOLLOWING the main verb.
>
>Carl, I think you're right about the uses of the participles here, but I've
>done some research (more yet to be done) on this question and found that
>there are probably as many (or maybe more) examples of such "postpositive"
>aorist participles referring to prior action as otherwise. It seems that the
>position has more to do with emphasis or deemphasis (somewhat in the sense
>of an afterthought) than with the timing of events.

Here is a draft of some prelim. work on this question in Mark; I've
included both aor. and pres. adv. ptcps.:

___________________
There are 541 participles in Mark (248 present, 253 aorist, and 40
perfect). The following section examines the temporal use of the participle
in three selected chapters: Mark 2, 6, and 15. In these three chapters, the
adverbial participle is evaluated for relative temporal reference in
relation to the main verb and in relation to the word order of participle
and verb. This provides a test corpus of 55 aorist and 22 present forms.

Of the 55 adverbial aorist participles in the sample sections, 47 (85.5%)
express antecedent time and 8 (14.5%) refer to simultaneous time. No
instances of subsequent reference were observed. In both groups word order
alone was not an adequate criteria as both antecedent and simultaneous
reference was found with participles occurring both before and after the
main verb. There was a clear pattern in both instances, however. With
antecedent action the participle occured before the main verb in 45 of the
47 instances. Simultaneous action likewise favors the sequence: participle
> verb (7 or the 8 instances). At least in the sample passages, aorist
verbs clearly tend to occur before the main verb.

Aorist Participles in Mark 3, 6, 15

Before the verb
Antecedent
2:1, 4, 5, 8, 12, 14, 16, 17
6:2, 5, 12, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22a, b, 24, 25, 27b,
29, 34, 35a, b, 36, 37b, 38, 41a, 46, 48, 53, 54
15:1a, b, 8, 35, 36a, b, c, 37, 39, 43a, 44, 45, 46a, b
Simultaneous
6:26, 27a, 37a, 41; 15:2, 12, 43b

After the verb
Antecedent
15:15, 17
Simultaneous
15:30

Present Participles

Of the 22 adverbial present participles in the sample sections, only one
expresses antecedent time and 21 refer to simultaneous time. No instances
of subsequent reference were found in the sample section. Word order alone
was not an adequate criteria as simultaneous reference was found with
participles occurring both before and after the main verb. There was a
fairly clear pattern, however. With simultaneous action the participle
occured after the main verb in 16 of the 21 instances. At least in the
sample passages, present verbs clearly tend to occur after the main verb.

Present Participles in Mark 3, 6, 15

Before the verb
Antecedent
2:4
Simultaneous
6:2a, 11; 15:15, 19, 31

After the verb
Antecedent
[none]
Simultaneous
2:3a, b, 12, 14, 23; 6:2b, 6, 25, 33, 48b; 15:4, 9, 24, 29a, c, 36

___________________
Rod

_________________________________________________________________
Rodney J. Decker Baptist Bible Seminary
Asst. Prof./NT P O Box 800
rdecker@bbc.edu Clarks Summit PA 18411
http://www.bbc.edu/courses/BBS/RDecker/Index.htm USA
_________________________________________________________________