Re: participles

Mary L B Pendergraft (pender@wfu.edu)
Mon, 27 Oct 1997 15:59:44 -0500

At 01:02 PM 10/27/97 -0600, Thomas Bond wrote:
>I am a new subscriber to this list, and am sure that my question is as old
>as my subscription is new. But, I am curious about the use of the
>participle in Mt. 28:19a: POREUQENTES OUN MAQHTEUSATE PANTA TA EQNH.

What I tell my students is that Greek frequently likes to use one finite
verb and one or more participles where English prefers to use parallel
finite verbs. So, while the participle isn't really an imperative, it
would be more idiomatic in English to use one: "Go and teach." Similarly,
in the preceding verse, it's more typical of English to say, "Jesus
approached them and spoke to them...."

Mary

Mary Pendergraft
Associate Professor of Classical Languages
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem NC 27109 910-759-5331 pender@wfu.edu