Re. The aorist!

user reigles at paonline.com
Mon Nov 23 17:54:03 EST 1998


Hello Everyone,
I am interested in this question, for I have often encountered texts where the "standard"
ways of looking at the aorist don't seem to fit.   I am particularly interested in this statement by Cindy
Westfall:

"While this may seem as though the perfect and the aorist have little
distinction between them, the significance of the use of each becomes apparent
above the sentence level.  If there are three consecutive finite verbs, for
instance, and one is imperfect, one is aorist, and one is perfect, the perfect
is generally connected with the main point or action, the imperfect describes
setting, and the aorist provides the 'background' or support for the main
point."


To me this is new way of thinking about tenses.  Would Cindy or anyone else be kind 
enough to provide some examples for me to examine.  I want to think more about this.

Thank you very much,
Dave Reigle
Elizabethtown,Pa.
"reigles at paonline.com"




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