[B-Greek] Comment after hearing all the reply to prep takes object
Taylor Swendsen
taylor at swendsen.org
Wed Nov 7 00:55:25 EST 2007
Jim,
I offer a very simplified explanation below:
To say a preposition takes an object means (as you suspect) that the
preposition goes together with another word or group of words to form a
complete prepositional phrase. At the risk of oversimplifying things, these
other words are what is generally meant mean by the term 'object'.
When one says a preposition TAKES an object in one particular case or
another, it simply means that the preposition REQUIRES that the word(s)
making up the object be in that case. We could just as well say that a
preposition REQUIRES its object to be in a particular case, but it just so
happens that TAKES is the term that is used.
In Greek, EIS (into) requires its object be in the accusative, and SUN
(with) requires its object de in the dative - meaning that it would be
considered ungrammatical to have the object written in any other case. I
think you can see how the term 'takes' helps conveys the idea of
acceptability. Other prepositions of course may have a different meanings
based on the case of the object. PARA means "from (the side of)" when the
words forming the object are in the genitive, but "beside" when the object
is in the dative.
My explanation to this point has been a bit oversimplified, but I did this
intentionally so as to not confuse our discussion of what the term 'takes'
means. In actuality, not all the words that complete a prepositional phrase
will be in the same case. In the prepositional phrase "into the house of
God" (EIS TON OIKON TOU THEO) we can see that "the house" (TON OIKON) is in
the accusative as EIS requires, but that "of God" (TOU THEO) is in the
genitive (which is how the possessive is formed). To be more accurate I
should have said that the object of a preposition is the head of its
complement, or some such similar statement... But we don't have the time or
space to discuss and debate all the finer points of phrase structure theory!
Hope this clears things up a bit.
Taylor Swendsen
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of JMonte2000 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 4:45 PM
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [B-Greek] Comment after hearing all the reply to prep takes object
First of all, I thank each of you kindly, who took the time to answer me.
My
main question was, what does "take" mean the pre takes the object. After
all
your responses, am I correct saying, takes means that it goes with the
object, or they go together in the prepositional phrase? If it's Genitive,
dative
or accusative? I was confused with the term, takes.
Jim
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