The Essentials of Greek Grammar: A Reference for Intermediate Readers of Attic Greek (Volume 39)

by Louise Pratt

Designed for intermediate-level students, this textbook presents an outline of the essential forms and syntax of ancient Attic Greek. A perfect supplement to Louise Pratt’s Eros at the Banquet , it also stands alone as a useful resource for any student seeking to move beyond the basics of Greek into the exciting experience of reading classical literature in its original language.  The Essentials of Greek Grammar is based on the author’s many years of classroom experience and on the handouts she developed and fine-tuned to supplement a variety of textbooks and approaches. In part 1 of the volume, Pratt covers the Part 2 presents syntax, moving from the relatively straightforward case uses of nouns and pronouns, to the uses and positions of adjectives and the complexities of verb types and moods. Pratt also includes miscellaneous figures of speech and a handy appendix listing two hundred common Attic verbs and their principal parts.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Language

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2011

Reviews

[max · Rating 4 out of 5]

The old school Greek grammars (Goodwin, Hadley, Smyth) are amazing books, crammed as they are with extraordinary amounts of linguistic minutiae -- much of it completely unnecessary for a reasonably good working knowledge of the Greek language. They are so overwhelming, in fact, that the mind reels upon looking at any page.

I once made the mistake, early on in a first year Greek class, of opening up my copy of Goodwin's Greek Grammar to a page that contained the 300 or so separately inflected forms of the verb λύω and handing it to a student to look at. The poor child took one glance and seemed for a moment as if he were about to keel over. He dropped the class later that afternoon. So I made a mental note not to do that anymore, at least not within the first week or so of the course.

Now this little book is something altogether different. It is subtitled "A Reference for Intermediate Readers of Attic Greek." When I first began teaching Greek at my HS, some students earned awards on the National Greek Exam. At our Awards Ceremony later that year, the bulletin said they had won these prizes in "Attack Greek." This absurd blunder became a running joke. I cautioned students that we were not attacking anyone, just trying to learn the language spoken by the people who lived in and around Attica in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.

Back to the book. It contains two parts. Part One sets forth the forms, the paradigms of all the nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, etc. Part Two is the rules, succinctly stated with easy to understand examples from Greek authors (+ accompanying translations, an absolute necessity). It is laid out in an attractive fashion and dispenses completely with all of the seemingly (but not always) trivial information that the older grammars are notorious for including.

Highly recommended for students who are halfway through year one or well into year two of Attack Greek.

[angie ୨˚̣̣̣୧]

absolutely carried me