Re: Dative

Edward Hobbs (EHOBBS@wellesley.edu)
Mon, 17 Nov 1997 15:25:33 -0500 (EST)

Colleagues:

Micheal Palmer's comment on case FORMS and case FUNCTIONS gets a warm
second from me. He wrote:

" I sometimes find it helpful to make a distinction between the five
sets of case FORMS and the many case FUNCTIONS in Greek (why stop at
eight?). "

Most of the argument about whether Greek has five or eight cases is
misplaced: Those who argue for five are talking FORMS, and those who argue
for eight are talking FUNCTIONS. And it is true that there are more than
eight FUNCTIONS.

For the many years I taught students who had not already studied classical
Greek, I insisted on both--learn the five (or three?--neuter) forms, and
attach Gen-Abl to the second form, and D-I-L to the third. (Since there
are also a few other functions which show up from time to time, even this
is too simple--but for beginners, simple is necessary.)

Edward Hobbs