[B-Greek] Noun/Pronoun and Verb agreement
Stephen C. Carlson
scarlson at mindspring.com
Thu Oct 6 01:00:32 EDT 2005
At 05:20 PM 10/5/2005 -0700, Eric Weiss wrote:
>EN hAIS HN MARIA hH MAGDALHNH KAI MARIA hH TOU IAKWBOU
>KAI IWSHF MHTHR KAI hH MHTHR TWN hUIW=N ZEBEDAIOU.
>
>So why is HN used instead of HSAN? Or is it normal to
>use the singular "was" instead of the plural "were" even
>with a string of subjects joined by KAI?
This is explained at BDF § 135(1): "When the subject
consists of sing.+sing. or of sing.+plur. the verb
agrees (a) with the first subject if the verb stands
before it, except when the the subject-group is basically
considered as a whole ..."
Other examples of this listed in BDF include Acts 11:14,
16:31, John 2:2, 18:15 20:3, Acts 16:30, and Matt 5:18.
Stephen Carlson
--
Stephen C. Carlson mailto:scarlson at mindspring.com
Weblog: http://www.hypotyposeis.org/weblog/
Author of: The Gospel Hoax, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932792481
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