The Purpose of Syntactical Categories

Daniel L Christiansen dlc at multnomah.edu
Tue Jan 4 11:42:32 EST 2000


Tony Stark wrote:
> 
> Greetings to all.
> This may be a simple question for most on this list,but I need to ask this
> question anyway.
>           What is the purpose for the numerous syntactical categories in
> advance grammar? For example:
>                    1.Descriptive Genitive
>                    2. Genitive of Content
>                    3. Genitive Absolute
>                    4.Dative of Sphere etc.
> I Know they describe part of the greek sentence, but why are they used? Why
> memorize them?
> Can someone explain their use for exegesis or why it is taught in advance
> courses? ETC.           

	None of these categories are correct . . . they all are, however,
possibilities.  If you memorize and understand all the categories, you
are then able to take the next step: forget them!  By that time, you
will hopefully be gaining a feel for "how the language speaks."  Then,
the categories are useful as a shorthand for communicating with others
who ask about the language.
	I know that is vague, and it always frustrates my students; but, I do
think that this is the manner in which Grammar should be approached.
-- 
Daniel L. Christiansen
Department of Bible
Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street
Portland, OR  97220
(Also Portland Bible College, Prof of Biblical Languages)
e-mail: dlc at multnomah.edu



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