Syntactical mechanics : a new approach to English, Latin, and Greek

227 Pages·2014·3.454 MB·English

by  McMenomy, Bruce Alan

Syntactical Mechanics
A New Approach to
English, Latin, and Greek
Bruce A. McMenomy
Syntactical Mechanics
•
OklahOma SerieS in ClaSSiCal Culture
OklahOma SerieS in ClaSSiCal Culture
series editor
ellen Greene, University of Oklahoma
advisory board
ronnie ancona, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center
Carolyn J. Dewald, Bard College
elaine Fantham, Princeton University
nancy Felson, University of Georgia
helene P. Foley, Barnard College
Thomas r. martin, College of the Holy Cross
John F. miller, University of Virginia
richard F. Thomas, Harvard University
Syntactical Mechanics
•
A New Approach to English, Latin, and Greek
Bruce A. McMenomy
univerSity OF OklahOma PreSS : nOrman
Library of CongreSS CataLoging-in-PubLiCation Data
mcmenomy, Bruce alan, 1954– author.
Syntactical mechanics : a new approach to english, latin, and Greek /
Bruce a. mcmenomy.
pages cm — (Oklahoma series in classical culture ; volume 51)
iSBn 978-0-8061-4494-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. latin language—Syntax.
2. Greek language—Syntax. 3. english language—Syntax. i. title.
ii. Series: Oklahoma series in classical culture ; v. 51.
Pa2285.m37 2014
485—dc23
2014001230
Syntactical Mechanics: A New Approach to English, Latin, and Greek
is volume 51 in the Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of
the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book longevity of the Council on
library resources, inc. ∞
Copyright © 2014 by the university of Oklahoma Press, norman, Publishing
Division of the university. manufactured in the u.S.a.
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—except as permitted
under Section 107 or 108 of the united States Copyright act—without the prior
permission of the university of Oklahoma Press.
for my family, who understood.
Christe, Mary, David, and Sarah

Contents
Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
ChaPter 1
the eight parts of speech—all eleven of them . 3
names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Doing and being . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
how, when, where, and why. . . . . . . . . . . 14
language glue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
herbs and spices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
ChaPter 2
the parts of a sentence . . . . . . . . . 19
The two main parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Predication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
two kinds of predication . . . . . . . . . . . 21
two kinds of being . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
two kinds of clause. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Three kinds of independent clause . . . . . . . . . 26
Three kinds of sentence . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Three kinds of subordinate clause . . . . . . . . . 29
Phrases that aren’t clauses . . . . . . . . . . . 31
ChaPter 3
adverbial clauses—every which way. . . . . 32
an overview of adverbial clauses. . . . . . . . . . 32
Cause and effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
to what purpose? . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
So what? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
When and if: time and contingency . . . . . . . . . 36
Doing or keeping time . . . . . . . . . . . 38
if and then . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
even if . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Where? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
how and how much? . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
how . . . ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
vii
ChaPter 4
adjectival clauses—relatively speaking . . . 54
The normal relative clause . . . . . . . . . . . 54
restrictive versus nonrestrictive relatives. . . . . . . . 57
relative clauses that act like conditions . . . . . . . . 60
Connecting relatives . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
ChaPter 5
noun clauses—form and substance . . . . . 63
The slippery boundaries of substantive clauses . . . . . . 63
indirect discourse of all sorts . . . . . . . . . . 65
indirect discourse in english. . . . . . . . . . 66
indirect statement in english. . . . . . . . . 66
indirect question in english . . . . . . . . . 68
indirect command in english. . . . . . . . . 69
indirect discourse in latin . . . . . . . . . . 69
indirect statement in latin . . . . . . . . . 70
indirect question in latin . . . . . . . . . 73
indirect command in latin . . . . . . . . . 74
indirect discourse in Greek . . . . . . . . . . 75
indirect statement in Greek . . . . . . . . . 75
indirect question in Greek . . . . . . . . . 80
indirect command in Greek . . . . . . . . . 81
Concluding thoughts about indirect discourse . . . . . . 81
ChaPter 6
interlude—some historical linguistics. . . . 84
ChaPter 7
verbs—the engine itself . . . . . . . . . 89
What a verb is marked for . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Person. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
tense and aspect . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
The imperfect system . . . . . . . . . . . 94
The perfect system . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The aorist tense and system . . . . . . . . . . 97
The aorist and the perfect in latin . . . . . . . . 98
aspect in the Greek verb . . . . . . . . . . 101
viii
mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
indicative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Subjunctive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Optative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
infinitive: not quite a mood . . . . . . . . . . 109
Gerund: The other side of the infinitive . . . . . . . 111
Gerunds and infinitives in english, latin, and Greek . . . . 111
Participle: also not quite a mood . . . . . . . . 113
voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Passive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
middle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Phantoms: Deponents and semi-deponents . . . . . . 118
ChaPter 8
nouns—substantives and adjectives . . . . . 119
What names are marked for . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Gender. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
english cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Cases in Greek, latin, and Pie . . . . . . . . . . 124
nominative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Genitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
ablative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
instrumental and associative. . . . . . . . . . 127
Dative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
accusative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
locative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
vocative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
The individual constructions . . . . . . . . . . 130
Place, space, and time . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Personal source . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
instrumentality . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
manner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Objects of verbs, direct and indirect . . . . . . . . 138
ix