Dear Ken, You wrote 'way back at the beginning of November: >Let's try this again. Why does the presence of an >optative a priori mean this is an indirect question. >Or, put another way, what are the specific criteria >but which we can _know_ that a statement is meant as >indirect question vs. a direct question? I don't see >anything in Luke 8:9, that tells me the text is not >saying, >His disciples said to him, "What might this parable >mean (be)? The Greek text of Lk 8:9 is: EPHRWTWN DE AUTON hOI MAQHTAI AUTOU, TIS hAUTH EIH hH PARABOLH. So you are reading the disciples' question as though it were a direct question containing a potential optative, n'est-ce pas? If that were so, the subordinate clause MUST contain the particle AN in it somewhere. Since it does not, EIH cannot be the potential optative. The only remaining alternative is O.O. Yours in His grace, Richard Ghilardi -- qodeshlayhvh@juno.com New Haven, CT USA Nibai kaurno hwaiteis gadriusando in airtha gaswiltith, silbo ainata aflifnith: ith jabai gaswiltith, manag akran bairith. --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu