Are Greek Verbs Not Marked Temporally Even In Indicative Clauses?
Edward Hobbs
EHOBBS at WELLESLEY.EDU
Wed Mar 3 14:11:18 EST 1999
Carl Conrad wrote (briefly summarizing himself):
"...aorist participles in narrative sequence . . . do tend generally to
indicate action prior to the main narrative verb, and that this is probably
a matter of conventional idiomatic usage rather than of anything built-in
in either the aorist itself or in the aorist participle."
My agreement with Carl is probably not worth even the proverbial 2 cents;
but may I mention that one of my Greek professors at Chicago (Benedict
Einarson) used to say that this is "a schoolboy rule which works more
often than it should!" Carl has put it more objectively-- that it "is
probably a matter of conventional idiomatic usage rather than of anything
built-in in either the aorist itself or in the aorist participle."
Edward Hobbs
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