Daily Exercise for 2015

[Paul-Nitz]

A five minute daily shot of Greek...

The devotional book, Daily Light on the Daily Path (pub. 1901), lists one head passage as a theme and collects several related passages under that theme. Often a logical progression is seen in the selection. Because it consists entirely of Scripture passages this devotional book has stood the test of time. It has been reprinted many times and is published on several websites as a daily devotional.

In the new year (2015) I will be using Daily Light both as a devotion and as a daily Greek learning exercise. I am sharing my exercise with others through the website Youdevotion.com/light. This site displays Daily Light (NET English) and also allows comments on each daily entry (via Disqus). Note that the daily devotions and comments are also available on a very nice free Apple App.

The learning exercise is very simple. A Greek excerpt (NT or LXX) from the morning selection of passages will be posted in the comments underneath the daily devotion on Youdevotion.com. The excerpt will illustrate a structure. The learner could use that structure in a number of ways. Suggestions are listed in the comments below the 1st January devotion found at http://www.youdevotion.com/light/january/1

The very simplest exercise could be changing the tense of a verb. A more advanced use of the excerpt might be to rephrase it.

[Paul-Nitz]

Here are three example posts put up on http://www.youdevotion.com/light

An excerpt is listed. The targeted language structure is noted in the last line of each post. As a learning exercise, participants would DO SOMETHING with the excerpt: rephrase it, substitute alternate vocabulary / tenses, comment on grammar, etc.

What are your comments, questions, or suggestions?

02-Jan-15

• Romans 13:11
  νῦν γὰρ ἐγγύτερον ἡμῶν ἡ σωτηρία ἢ ὅτε ἐπιστεύσαμεν.
  Now then we are closer to our salvation than when we believed.
  ἐγγύτερον… ἤ ________ Comparative + ἤ.

03-Jan-15

• Psalm 107:7 (LXX Ps. 106:8)
  ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς εἰς ὁδὸν εὐθεῖαν τοῦ πορευθῆναι εἰς πόλιν κατοικητηρίου.
  He led them on a straight road [for the purpose] of going to a city for dwelling.
  τοῦ πορευθῆναι ________ Genitive Article + Infinitive, showing why.

04-Jan-15

• John 14:2
  ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν• εἰ δὲ μή, εἶπον ἂν ὑμῖν
  In my father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you.
  εἰ…, …[Past Tense] ἂν. ________ If… would have…

[Wes Wood]

Sorry, I don't have much in the way of suggestions here, but I like what you have done with these exercises.

Also, there is a grammatical structure in John 14:2 that Mr. Hughes may (or may not) be interested in picking up for his Xenophon list of New Testament parrallels. (Ei de mh...this rascal vexed me greatly the other night when the last mh found in this phrase in my reading was not acting to negate the phrase I felt it should have been. If I understood Smyth correctly, it sometimes does this but may still be glossed as "otherwise" without affecting negation of the verb if this occurs. I believe this to be a perfect example of trying to explain things that one does not understand in a way that sails over a child's head...)

[Paul-Nitz]

Another daily shot of Greek is going on Facebook - one year read through LXX Psalms.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1494264187487145/

[Thomas Dolhanty]

Daily Exercise for 2015
A five minute daily shot of Greek

Great idea Paul. Thanks for the initiative. Don't have any suggestions at the outset, but I'm planning to trail along. Daily bite size bits of Biblical Greek grammar is appealing.