The Syntax and Semantics of the Verb in Classical Greek

Okay you Greek lovers. Finally a post on Greek after all this Hebrew. I want to introduce to you all a book which comes highly recommended from scholars like Randall Buth (www.biblicallanguagecenter.com) on the syntax and semantics of the verb in Classical Greek. Here is the bibliographical info.

Albert Riksbaron, The Syntax and Semantics of the Verb in Classical Greek: An Introduction. Third edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006.

I have only just begun to read it. So, in this post, I will just introduce you to the basic sematic value of the tense stems as outlined by Riksbaron on page 1 of Chapter 1.

-The present stem signifies that a state of affairs* is being carried out
and is, therefore, not completed (imperfective value).
-The aorist stem signifies that a state of affairs is completed (confective
value).
-The perfect stem signifies both that a state of affairs is completed and
that as a result a state exists (stative-confective value)
-The future stem signifies that a state of affairs is located after a point in time given in context or situation, without indicating
whether or not the state of affairs is completed.
-The future perfect stem signifies that a state of affairs is completed and
that as a result a state exists after a point in time given in
context or situation.

I look forward to working my way through this text further and seeing how well the theory explains what I see in the Greek of the New Testament. More to come on this, Lord willing.

Joe Justiss

*by "state of affairs" he means "a cover term for 'that which is expressed by a predication' (= roughly: a verb form and its arguments, e.g. Agent and Patient...'Action' is now usually restricted to a particular type of state of affairs, cp. e.g. Dik, The Theory of Functional Grammar. Part 1. Berlin-New York 1997: Mouton de Gruyter.