[B-Greek] Comparison of EIS with PROS
Paul Schmehl
pschmehl at sbcglobal.net
Wed Jan 14 20:47:06 EST 2004
----- Original Message -----
From: <dhoxworth at charter.net>
To: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 5:21 PM
Subject: Re: Re: [B-Greek] Comparison of EIS with PROS
>
> <doug>
> then why use PROS instead of EIS? if they are perfectly synonomous here,
then why isn't only PROS or only EIS used? i just wonder what the basis is
for saying there isn't an ounce of difference or a basis for explaining why
the different prepositions are used and what the particular nuance is for
each (in general, and specifically in Eph 4:12). thanks for your help.
>
Perhaps this will help.
I've written professionally, and one of the things I do when editing my
drafts is look for repetitiveness or redundancy in expressions. For
example, I don't like to begin two sentences, even in different paragraphs,
with "However", and I will look for ways to avoid that.
It's much better to say, "I went to the store for a reason, because I wanted
to see if the things I needed were on sale, since I was low on money" than
to say, "I went to the store for a reason, for I wanted to see if the things
I needed were on sale, for I was low on money".
There's really not much difference in the sense (or meaning) of the
prepositions, but the sentence flows better if I use different prepositions.
They all carry the sense of "for the purpose of", just as Carl points out in
the verse in question, but using the same preposition repeatedly seems
somehow dull. It even seems to make the sentence less meaningful.
It's been my experience that folks all too often want to find all sorts of
deep meaning and rich texture in words in the GNT that are simply used for
better "flow". In fact I think you would find few people that would use the
second sentence, as opposed to the first, in normal oral conversation, much
less in writing. Sometimes an author's choice of particular words are
completely without any ulterior motive or intention other to convey a
complete thought in language that "sounds" right.
Paul Schmehl
pschmehl at sbcglobal.net
http://www.utdallas.edu/~pauls/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list