[B-Greek] 1 Cor 16:19

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Fri Oct 15 09:30:19 EDT 2004


Dear Barbara,

>1 Cor 16:19.  ASPAZONTAI hUMAS hAI EKKLESIAI THS ASIAS.  ASPAZETAI
>hUMAS EN KYRIW POLLA AKULAS KAI PRISKA SUN TH KAT'
>OIKON AUTON EKKLESIA.
>
>What's bothering me here is "aspazetai."  Since there are two persons who
>are greeting, why is the verb singular?  After all, they are not neuter
>surely.


HH: Dan Wallace's _Greek Grammar beyond the Basics_ has a section on 
page 401 entitled "compound Subjects with Singular Verb." He says 
that normally compund subjects take the plural, but when the author 
wants to highlight one of the subjects, he uses the singular. This 
can even occur when one of the subjects is in the plural. The 
first-named subject is the one being stressed in such situations. For 
examples he gives Matt 13:55; John 2:2; 3:22; 4:36, 53; 18:15; 20:3; 
Acts 5:29; 16:31; Mark 8:27; 14:1; 1 Tim 6:4.

				Yours,
				Harold Holmyard




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