GREEK 500 A: Grammar and Composition

One of the best ways to gain fluency and understanding in reading ancient Greek is to use the language actively. When as a producer one has to make decisions about how to say even simple things in Greek (should I use aorist or present aspect here? where should I put the verb in this sentence?), as a consumer one becomes much more sensitive to the language and style of any piece of Greek writing and understands it better. In this course we will use Eleanor Dickey’s Introduction to the Analysis and Composition of Greek Prose, designed to develop knowledge of syntax and style of classical Attic prose and techniques of translation, and gradually move to translation of whole paragraphs of connected prose. I ask students to put up their sentences on the board and we go through them as a class together. We will vary this with looking at the style of various genres and authors. It's fun! (Really!) Midterm and final (translation from English into Greek of paragraph selected from a number of options) are both take-home format, homework assigned for every meeting.

Assessment:

Exercises (graded largely for completion) 25%

Midterm (take home) 25%

Final (take home) 25%

Class participation (25%)

This schedule will be filled in as the term progresses. It may also be changed if necessary: notice will be given by email.

Week 1: Dickey Accentuation I Articles II Modifiers (pdf here)

T March 26 *Note: we will work through these today in class together: no need to prepare

Ch. I Ex 1 (on A) h-n (p.10)

Ex 2 (on B) g-k (p.12)

Sentences 11–17 (pp.12–13)

Analysis 1–11 (pp. 14–15)

Th March 28 (from now on prepare exercises in advance to go over in class; please submit with corrections after class)

Ch. II Ex 1 (on A and B) j-m (p.18)

Ex 2 (on C) a-m (pp. 19–20)

Ex 3 (on E) h-l (p. 22)

Sentences 15, 32, 33

Analysis 4 (p. 25)

Submit your answers here.

Week 2: Dickey III Tenses, voices, and agreement IV Cases

T  April 2

Ch. III Ex 1 (p.29) g–p;

Ex 2 (p. 31) a, d, i, j, n, o, s

Sentences (p. 32) 

2, 5, 20, 23, 33

Analysis (p.33–34) 4

Submit your answers here.

In-class exercise: choosing aspect in Thuc. 6.34, translation of passage here.

Th April 4

Ch IV  Ex 1 (p. 37) h, i, j, l

Ex. 2 (p.38)

Ex. 3 (p.39)

Sentences (pp. 40f.) 2, 11, 13,  22, 30

Analysis (p. 42–43) 3, 6, 7

For a story that revolves around the genitive of value we read the Aesop fable about Hermes and the statue-maker.

Submit your answers here

Week 3: Dickey V Participles VI Word order and connection

T April 9

Ch. V Ex 1 (p. 45) g–l; Ex 2 (p.47) a, f–j; Ex 3 (pp. 48–9); Ex 4 (pp. 49–50) j,k,l,m,p,q; Ex 5 n, p, q, s, u, v, x, z; Sentences 13, 16, 21, 24, 27, 28

Submit your answers here

Th April 11

Ch. VI Ex 1 (p. 61); Ex. 3 (p. 63); Ex 4 (p. 65) g–l; Ex 5 (p. 65–66); Sentences (p. 66) 13–15; Analysis 6

Submit your answers here

F April 12: Midterm passage for translation from English into Greek released.

Week 4: Dickey VII Conditional, concessive, and potential clauses VIII Relative clauses

T April 16 Ch. VII Ex 1 (p.77) u–nn; Ex 2 (p.79) m–z; Sentences 12, 13,16, 22, 28, 30; Analysis 4, 6

[If you like, consult Appendix D pp. 207-212]

Submit your answers here

Th April 18 Ch. VIII Ex 2 (p. 84) e–h; Ex 3 (p. 85) j–q; Ex 4 (p. 86) e-h; Ex 5 (p. 86)  g–j;  Ex 6 (p. 87) e–g; Ex 8 (do e-g from Ex 6); Ex 9 (p.90) g,h; Sentences 1 (p. 92) 10, 12; Sentences 2 (p. 93) 9, 10; Sentences 4 (p. 93) 3, 4, 6;  Analysis (p. 95) 8

NOTE: If this is too much, do what you can. I'm still getting used to this textbook and getting the right amount of work to assign!

Submit your answers here

Week 5: Dickey IX Pronouns X Indirect statement

T April 23 Ch IX Ex 1 (p. 98) f–j; Ex 2 (p. 99); Ex. 3 (p. 100–1); Ex. 4 (p. 102) f–l; Sentences (p. 103) 15, 17, 20, 24; Analysis (p. 104) 5, 7.

Submit your answers here

Th April 25 Ch X Ex 1 (p. 107) h-n; Ex 2 (pp. 107–8) b, d–h; Ex. 3 (pp. 108-109) e–i; Ex. 5 (p. 110) f–h; Sentences (pp. 111-112) 3, 5, 8, 24, 28, 29; Analysis (p. 113) 9

Submit your answers here

Week 6: Dickey XI Questions XII Purpose, fear, and effort

T April 30 Ex. 1 (p.115) c-j; Ex. 2 (pp. 116–117) f–j, n; Sentences (p. 119) 10, 17, 18, 20, 21; Analysis (p. 120) 3

Th May 2 Ex. 1 (p. 125) g, h; Ex. 2 (p. 126) e-j; Ex. 3 (p. 127) c, d; Sentences (p. 128) 16, 17, 19, 21, 25; Analysis (pp. 128) 2, 5

Su May 5 11.59pm : submit midterm translation 

Week 7: Dickey XIII Cause, result, and “on condition that” XIV Comparison and negatives

T May 7 Today class will be shorter than normal, from 2.30 to 3.20

Th May 9

Week 8: Dickey XV Commands, wishes, and prevention XVI Temporal clauses

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Week 9: Dickey XVII Impersonal constructions and verbal adjectives XVIII Oratio obliqua

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Week 10: Dickey XIX Summary XX Consolidation

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Final assignment