[B-Greek] Active vs Middle voice

Mitch Larramore mitchlarramore at yahoo.com
Sun Aug 14 09:56:47 EDT 2005


GGBB defines Active Voice: "the subject performs,
produces, or experiences the action or exists in the
state expressed by the verb." (p 410)

Later, the Middle Voice is defined: "the subject
performs or experiences the action expressed by the
verb in such a way that emphasizes the subject's
participation." (p 415)

Can someone distinguish the nuance of the Active
(experiences the action) from the Middle? It almost
seems like the action performed by the subject is the
same with both Active and Middle, but that there is a
different emphasis. Is this right?

I'm wondering if I can define the Active in such a way
as to limit the action to an Active only, that is,
without the possibility of someone saying, "That could
be true of the Middle also."

Mitch Larramore
Sugar Land, Texas

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