[B-Greek] FW: Questions about verbal aspect.

Bruce Prince bruceprince at bigpond.com
Mon Jul 9 05:54:09 EDT 2007


Dear Mr Penner

I found your explanation of how the aspect shifts when the reference point changes quite interesting, and have sometimes wondered if the Biblical Greek for Luke 23:43 substantiates the placing of the comma in English - before or after "today".

Bruce Prince
Australia


-----Original Message----Ken Penner wrote:
> It IS true that the same objective event can be described using different (grammatical) aspects, just as the same objective event can be described using different tenses.
> John read the book yesterday. After he had read the book, he ate breakfast, because he had promised, "I will read the book before breakfast."
This tense shift is not a totally subjective choice of the author; the tense shifted because the time of speaking (="speech time") changed. 
> Similarly, the aspect shifts when the "reference point" changes. The reference point is the time about which an assertion is made. 




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