Holy Spirit and grammar (and animate/inanimate nouns)

Ben Crick ben.crick at argonet.co.uk
Tue Sep 22 17:33:22 EDT 1998


On Tue 22 Sep 98 (19:38:18 +0800), scox at mail.sparkice.com.cn wrote:
> It would be nice if Greek could magically solve all problems but
> somehow I don't think you will find the answer to this issue in
> grammar.  Yes, in some languages such as Polish (e.g. in the 
> masculine accusative plural if memory still serves) there is a 
> grammatical distinction beyond gender that can distinguish 
> between "animate" and "inanimate" nouns. But in Greek? Is there
> any "animate" and "inanimate" distinction, or any other way to prove 
> "personality" by any grammatical means?? (open question)

 Dear Steven,

 In Russian, the Accusative of *animate* nouns is always the same as the
 Genitive. The pure Accusative case is only used for *inanimate objects*,
 never for animals or people IIRC.

 I imagine that Polish, as another Slavonic language, would have something
 similar.

 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick at argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
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