What Modern Greek Grammars do not take an Aspect only view?

[Matthew Friend]

Hi Folks:

I already have several newer greek grammars that take a Verbal Aspect only view (like Deckers, Merkle/Plummer). Which modern Greek Grammar(s) would you recommend that does teach that there may also be a sense of time in the indicative? That is less of a Porter and more of a Runge/Fanning view? I think Mounce 4th edition still has some sense of time in the indicative, are there others?

Thank you for your time,
Matthew

[MAubrey]

Köstenberger, Merkle, and Plummer's Going Deeper with New Testament Greek: An Intermediate Study of the Grammar and Syntax of the New Testament isn't aspect-only. It's a both tense and aspect view.

[Matthew Friend]

Thanks MAubrey I'll check it out. I see the one grammar I have "Beginning with New Testament Greek" is by two of those authors (Merkle and Plummer). I hadn't read their section in their closely yet... I thought someone had said they were Aspect only.

Thanks again

Matthew

[MAubrey]

Gotcha. Yeah, I haven't yet seen their grammar, but I'd be a little surprised if they changed that from their earlier intermediate grammar. When I talked with Ben Merkle back in 4/2019, he definitely seemed on the aspect AND tense side of things.

[Matthew Friend]

Yep, you are correct. I really like Plummers videos that he has created to use in conjunction with their new grammar. I just watched the intro video on verbs and his view seems to be what I was looking for ( https://youtu.be/LOl2EzDxpSg?t=795 starts at about 13:15). I think after struggling for a while now about which grammar(s) to use... and then getting sucked into losing about a week trying to understand Verbal Aspect, I'm going to use Mounce 4th edition in conjunction with the Merkle/Plummer text (they make things pretty easy to understand and I love his videos). Once I'm done with the basics I'm planning on working through the "Going Deeper with New Testament Greek" Grammar. I already have Wallaces "Beyond the Basics" and the intermediate grammar by Mathewson & Emig.

Thanks for you help...

[Stirling Bartholomew]

Yep, you are correct. I really like Plummers videos that he has created to use in conjunction with their new grammar. I just watched the intro video on verbs and his view seems to be what I was looking for ( https://youtu.be/LOl2EzDxpSg?t=795 starts at about 13:15). I think after struggling for a while now about which grammar(s) to use... and then getting sucked into losing about a week trying to understand Verbal Aspect, I'm going to use Mounce 4th edition in conjunction with the Merkle/Plummer text (they make things pretty easy to understand and I love his videos). Once I'm done with the basics I'm planning on working through the "Going Deeper with New Testament Greek" Grammar.

I just watched that video. Looks good. Porter's Idioms 1992 wasn't that clear. The comment "losing about a week trying to understand Verbal Aspect" is hilaious. People spent decades discussing this.

[Matthew Friend]

Hi Stirling:
I have all the videos for Plummer's Grammar (on the Beginning Greek website), as well as the videos for Mounce's Basics 4th, Dana Harris' new grammar and Constanines grammar.

I love how Plummer explains things. Not to be rude I guess, but the videos for the others spend the majority of the time watching the author speak. Plummer spends 100% of the time teaching by showing on the screen what he is talking about. He really explains things well for beginners. The last few chapters in my grammar(s) I've watched his video for the chapter first, then Mounce's, then read his grammar then Mounces. I'm sure Harris is a very nice person but the videos need more hands on type interaction.

Since I've only gotten back into Greek less than 3 weeks ago, I don't want to lose 'momentum' by getting overly focused on Verbal Aspects, etc. I'm sure I'll read more on it as time goes by, but I need to be careful to do so only after I've completed my Greek Grammar/learning goals for the day. ( I've found I do much better if I have concrete goals that I can accomplish rather than just winging it).

[Stirling Bartholomew]

Matthew,

I am in total agreement with you. Verb Aspect should be presented in the simplest possible manner. I started to read Porter's dissertation 1989 and gave up very quickly. I am going recommend Plummer's books and videos. That's why I participate in these discussions. Need to keep up to date with what is going on.

[Matthew Friend]

Plummer has links to his videos for the grammar, as well as a Onenote "book" if you use Microsoft Onenote, links to various vocab programs, etc.
https://beginninggreek.com (takes you tol : https://www.bhacademic.com/beginninggreek/). On Mounces' site (https://www.billmounce.com/biblicalgreek1) I like how he has a complete program set out (I already have the videos so I use the free version). I chose to work through Track 2 since I didn't want to wait as long to begin learning verbs. There is a nice free web based parsing app that is helpful for study also