From: Micheal Palmer (mwpalmer@earthlink.net)
Date: Sat Mar 01 1997 - 23:37:09 EST
At 6:18 PM -0500 3/1/97, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>"Neuter plurals often have singular verbs." Thanks! That's what I
>didn't know. After reading what you said, I looked it up in Smyth,
>who says this:
>
>Subject in the Plural, Verb in the Singular
>
>958. A neuter plural subject is regarded as a collective (996), and has its
>verb in the singular: KALA HN TA SFAGIA "the sacrifices were propitious"
>X.A.4.3.19.
While this is OFTEN true in the New Testament, it is not nearly always so.
This is one of the handicaps of using Smyth (which is an excellent
grammar). Smyth's focus is on an earlier period, and this is one of those
things which was in change at the time of the New Testament. Smyth's
description probably does cover the majority of instances in the New
Testament, though.
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Micheal W. Palmer
Religion & Philosophy
Meredith College
mwpalmer@earthlink.net
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