greek syntax search in accordance - nt resourcesaccording to blass-debrunner-funk 416, a participle...

Greek Syntax Search Examples from the Accordance Forums

By Marco V. Fabbri

The following material was compiled from the Accordance Forums. Formatting has been tweaked slightly and a few typos corrected. The content remains identical to the online material as of March 4, 2012 and can be found here: http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showforum=73

Contents Participles That Are Subject Complement How to Search for Supplementary Participles How to Search for Accusative and Infinitive How to Search for Conjunctive Participles How to Search for Subject Substantival Participles How to Search for Complement Substantival Participles How to Search for Absolute Genitives How to Search for Attributive Participles How to Search for Conditional Clauses Sorting out ὅτι Clauses

Participles That Are Subject Complement

Posted 30 October 2011 - 11:39 AM

Some searches in the GNT-T.Syntax require the use of the Greek Construct Window. A good examples is a search for participles that are subject complement, that is for participles that are nominative, and are Complement to the verb εἰμί or other verbs that allow for a nominative complement. The search can be set up in this way:

• Open a new Search Text Window and set it to GNT-T • Set the search to Words (not Verses) • Set it to search in every Book (as opposed to Verse, Clause or Sentence) • Open a new Greek Construct Window

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• In the Greek Construct Window, drag the Clause element and drop it into the first column

• When prompted, choose "Dependent clause only", and choose "complement" as the type of the dependent Clause, then click OK

• Drag the Verb element and drop it into the first column • When prompted, choose Mood: Participle; and Case: Nominative, then click

OK • Hit Return, or click the blue Search button.

The Search Text window with its Greek Construct will look like this image:

However, this search will find all Nominative participles that are part of a Complement Clause. It will find Participles that are Subject Complements in periphrastic conjugations, but also any supplementary Participle that is Nominative. If I want to restrict the search to anything that falls outside of the Complement Clause that has a Participle Verb, I will need to make my Complement Clause part of a Predicate Phrase. Suppose that I want to find periphrastic conjugations that include εἰμί as finite Verb. I will need to set up the search as follows:

• Open a new Search Text Window and set it to GNT-T • Set the search to Words (not Verses) • Set it to search in every Book (as opposed to Verse, Clause or Sentence) • Open a new Greek Construct Window • In the Greek Construct Window, drag the Phrase element and drop it into the

first column • When prompted, choose Predicate, then click OK • Drag the Lex element and drop it into the first column of the Predicate Phrase

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• When prompted, type eimi, then click OK • Drag the Clause element and drop it into the second column of the Predicate

Phrase • When prompted, choose "Dependent clause only", and choose "complement" as

the type of the dependent Clause, then click OK • Drag the Verb element and drop it into the first column • When prompted, choose Mood: Participle; and Case: Nominative, then click

OK • Just below the blue title that says "Greek Construct", click "Search both

directions" • Hit Return, or click the blue Search button.

The Search Text window with its Greek Construct will look as below:

How to Search for Supplementary Participles


According to Blass-Debrunner-Funk § 416, a Participle dependent on verbs of perception and cognition takes “the accusative (or genitive) if it refers to the object.” This makes for a few very interesting searches in the syntax of GNT-T. First we will search for the Accusative supplementary Participle:

• Open a new Search Text, choose GNT-T as search text, and choose to search for Words (not Verses) within every Chapter or Book (not Verse, etc)

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• Open a new Greek Construct (Command-2), that will be automatically linked to the Search Text

• In the Greek Construct window, drag the Clause element and drop it into the first column

• When prompted, choose Dependent and Complement, then click OK or press Return

• Drag the Verb element and drop it into the first column of the Compl. DEPENDENT Clause

• When prompted, choose Mood: participle and Case: Accusative, then click OK or press Return

• Drag the Subject element and drop it into the second column of the Compl. DEPENDENT Clause

• When prompted, choose Any, then click OK or press Return • Drag the ANY element and drop it into the same column that already contains

the Subject element • When prompted, type Accusative, then click OK • Select “Search both directions,” near the search button. • Press Return, or click on the search button.

We find all Complement Clauses, whose verb is a Participle that takes the Accusative case, and whose Subject takes the Accusative. It looks as follows:

It is interesting to go through the verbs that are complemented by the participial Clauses: they are εὑρίσκω, βλέπω, ἀκούω, θεωρέω, ἐπίσταμαι, ὁράω (εἶδον). They are all in DBF § 416, grouped as (1) verbs of cognition; (2) verbs of perception. Second, we will search for the Genitive supplementary Participle To search for the genitive, it will be enough to modify the existing search, changing

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accusative into genitive. The steps are the following:

• Within the element VERB participle accusative, select only the word “accusative”

• Type “genitive” instead • Within the element ANY accusative, select only the word “accusative” • Type “genitive” instead • Press Return, or click on the search button.

We find all Complement Clauses, whose verb is a Participle that takes the Genitive case, and whose Subject takes the Genitive. In the search range Mat-Acts there are only 31 hits: 15 clauses are found, that contain two element each, except for Acts 15:12 that contains three. If we scroll trough the results, we will notice that the participial Clauses that take the Genitive are always the complement of the verb ἀκούω. It will look as follows:

Third, we will search for any supplementary Participle If we wanted to search for Complement Clauses, whose verb is a Participle that takes the either the Genitive case or the Accusative case, then we would to remove the case from the construct. Instead, we will have the Subject agree in case with the Participle. The steps would be:


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• Open a new Greek Constuct (Command-2), that will be automatically linked to the Search Text




• When prompted, choose Mood: Participle, then click OK or press Return • Drag the Subject element and drop it into the second column of the Compl.

DEPENDENT Clause • When prompted, choose Any, then click OK or press Return • Drag the connecting element AGREE, and drop it into the Compl.

DEPENDENT, so that it may connect VERB and SUBJECT. • When prompted, select “Case” for agreement, then click OK or press Return • Select “Search both directions,” near the search button • Press Return, or click on the search button.

It would look like this:

If we scroll through the results to the beginning of Acts, as I have done in the picture, we can see that the supplementary Participle takes the Accusative in Acts 1:11, and takes the genitive in Acts 2:6. In both cases the verb in the superordinate clause is ἀκούω. This suggest a new search, in which ἀκούω is included as the verb that is supplemented by the participle. Fourth, we will search for any supplementary Participles as complement of ἀκούω In order to add ἀκούω to the search, we will need to make the Complement Clause part of a Predicate Phrase, that also includes ἀκούω.

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The steps would be:



• In the Greek Construct window, drag the Phrase element and drop it into the first column

• When prompted, choose Predicate, then click OK or press Return • Drag the LEX element and drop it into the first column • When prompted, type ακουω, then click OK or press Return • Drag the Clause element and drop it into the second column • When prompted, choose Dependent and Complement, then click OK or press

Return • Drag the Subject element and drop it into the first column of the Compl.

DEPENDENT Clause • When prompted, choose Any, then click OK or press Return • Drag the Verb element and drop it into the second column of the Compl.

DEPENDENT Clause • When prompted, choose Mood: Participle, then click OK or press Return • Drag the connecting element AGREE, and drop it into Compl. DEPENDENT,

so that it may connect VERB and SUBJECT. • When prompted, select “Case” for agreement, then click OK or press Return • Select “Search both directions,” near the search button • Press Return, or click on the search button.

The result will look like this:

The difference is that also ἀκούω is in red, as it was an element of our search.

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If we scroll through the results, when we reach Acts 22:7 and 26:14, we will notice an important difference. Acts 22:7 says: ἤκουσα φωνῆς λεγούσης, while Acts 26:14 says ἤκουσα φωνὴν λέγουσαν. Isn't this cool?

How to Search for Accusative and Infinitive

Posted 01 November 2011 - 10:52 AM

Searches for the Accusative and Infinitive in the GNT-T syntax can be at the same time powerful and easy to prepare. They can be performed in the Search Text window alone, or in the Greek construct window. The Greek construct is necessary when we want the elements of the search to belong to the same Clause. I. Searching for Subject Accusatives and Infinitives in the Search text Without the syntax, we could have searched for an Accusative and an Infinitive, but that would have returned any Accusative. Most of them would be complements, not subject. By involving the syntax in the search, we can specify that we only want those Accusatives that are also Subject. In the Search Text window, we need to enter: [Subject] @ [ANY accusative]<AND>[VERB infinitive] The search can be entered manually, or can be copied and pasted, or can be built step by step using the Menu Search: Enter Tag. The results will look like this:

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If we examine the results, we will see many good hits, and it will be apparent that the Accusative and Infinitive has many different uses. We will also notice that some hits don not actually contain any Accusative and Infinitive. So is the second hit: Matthew 3:7. Here the Accusative πολλούς and the Infinitive φυγεῖν do not belong to the same Clause. As Accordance searched in any verse, it just happened to find a Subject Accusative and an Infinitive in the same verse. If we want to make sure that the Accusative and the Infinitive belong to the same Clause, we will need the Greek Construct window. II. Searching for Accusative and Infinitive in any Dependent Clause The steps will be:




• When prompted, choose Dependent Clause only, then Any, then click OK (or press Return)

• Drag the Verb element and drop it into the first column of the DEPENDENT Clause

• When prompted, choose Mood: Infinitive, then click OK (or press Return) • Drag the Subject element and drop it into the second column of the

DEPENDENT Clause • When prompted, choose Any, then click OK (or press Return) • Drag the ANY element and drop it into the same column that already contains

the Subject element • When prompted, type Accusative, then click OK

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• Select “Search both directions,” in the right upper corner of the window (we do so that it doesn’t matter whether the Subject is found before the Infinitive, or the Infinitive is found before the Subject).

• Press Return, or click on the search button.


If we examine the results, we will see that the number of hits has decreased. The false hits are gone. We will also notice again the many different uses of the Accusative and Infinitive, and we may now narrow the search to Complement Clauses, or to Subject Clauses, or to Adjunct Clauses. Let’s try all of them. III. Searching for Accusative and Infinitive in Complement Dependent Clauses We can use the existing search and modify it. The steps will be:

• In the Greek Construct window, double-click on the DEPENDENT element • When prompted to “Select the type of dependent clause”, choose Complement,

then click OK (or press Return) • Press Return, or click on the search button.


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If we examine the results we will find that some of the Clauses are Complement of a Predicate, such as Matthew 5:32; 8:22; 14:19; 14:28, or 16:13. These are the most characteristic Accusative with infinitive Clauses. But we will also find some Clauses that are Complement to a preposition, such as Matthew 6:8; 13:4; 13:25. IV. Searching for Accusative and Infinitive in Subject Dependent Clauses An Accusative and Infinitive construct may be found also as an Subject Dependent Clause. We can use the existing search and modify it. The steps will be:

• In the Greek Construct window, double-click on the DEPENDENT element • When prompted to “Select the type of dependent clause”, choose Subject, then

click OK (or press Return) • Press Return, or click on the search button.


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If we examine the results, we will find that the Subject Clause works as the subject of δεῖ, or καλόν ἐστιν, or ἀνάγκη (ἐστίν understood), etc. V. Searching for Accusative and Infinitive in Adjunct Dependent Clauses An Accusative and Infinitive construct may be found also as an Adjunct Dependent Clause. This can happen in some Adverbial Clauses. Among them, we find some Clauses that we use to call Result Clauses, because of the semantics of the conjunction ὥστε that introduces them. Or we find Clauses that we call (Subsequent) Time Clauses, because of the semantics of the conjunction πρίν that introduces them. We can use the existing search and modify it. The steps will be:

• In the Greek Construct window, double-click on the DEPENDENT element • When prompted to “Select the type of dependent clause”, choose Adjunct, then

click OK (or press Return) • Press Return, or click on the search button.


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If we examine the results, we notice a few a (Subsequent) Time Clauses (Matthew 1:18; 26:34; 26:75), and several Result Clauses (Matthew 8:24; 8:28; 12:22; 13:2, etc.)

How to Search for Conjunctive Participles


In the language of the Greek syntax module, a circumstantial clause is an Adjunct Clause, and one that is Adjunct to a Predicate. Genitive Absolute, that we have already dealt with, is a kind of circumstantial Clause. It is also a participial Clause, so that a Genitive Absolute is always a participial circumstantial Clause, even if there is also another kind of participial circumstantial Clauses. In circumstantial Clauses, a Participle may be conjunctive or absolute. That is, it may either agree with the Subject of the main Sentence (whether overt or covert), or it may be not. When it doesn't, it is found in Genitive: hence the name of Genitive Absolute. When it does, it is found in Nominative, and we have a Conjunctive Participle. As we already know how to search for a Genitive Absolute, we will now search for a Nominative Participle that is the verb of a Circumstantial Clause.

We will try first the following search:




• When prompted, choose Predicate Phrase

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• Drag the Clause element and drop it into the first column, within the PREDICATE PHRASE

• When prompted, choose Dependent and Adjunct • Drag the Verb element and drop it into the first column of the Adjun.

DEPENDENT Clause • When prompted, choose Mood: participle and Case: Nominative • Press Return, or click on the search button.

The results are as follows:

It is apparent that the search actually finds conjunctive Participles, which are anarthrous, as the two Participles in Matthew 1:19 (δίκαιος ὢν καὶ μὴ θέλων). This is what we expected. However, because of a rare overlap that it would be long to explain, the search also finds a few attributive Participles, which are articular. One example is Matthew 1:16: ὁ λεγόμενος. This is an exception, not the rule: most attributive Participle are not found, because they are not part of a Predicate Phrase, but rather of an Adjunct Phrase. We may review the results and drop those exceptional results that are attributive Participles and therefore are not conjunctive Participles. But we may also narrow down the search, so that attributive Participles are not found and only conjunctive Participles are. This requires a short explanation about attributive Participles: they are the equivalent of a relative clause. In the syntax module, this similarity is reflected in that they always include a null Subject with a number (e.g. 01, 02) that matches the number of their antecedent (e.g. 1, 2) in the superordinate Clause. That is so because they always agree in case with a word of the superdordinate clause, whatever the case of that word is.

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On the other hand, the reason why conjunctive Participles are always in nominative is that they agree with the subject of the main Clause. In the Greek syntax module I have chosen not to add a null subject in a Dependent Clause when the subject is the same of the superordinate clause. A resulting advantage is that conjunctive Participles will never have a call to an antecedent Subject. Using symbols, they will never have a 01, 02, etc., as Subject). We can now modify the previous search in order to narrow it down:

• Find the element VERB participle nominative that fills the firs column of the Adjun. DEPENDENT Clause

• Move it from the first to the second column, so that the first column is free • Drag the element Antecedent and drop it in the free first column. • Drag the element NOT and drop it over ANTECEDENT, so that we now have a

negated Antecedent • Check that “search both directions” is NOT selected: the negated Antecedent

must come before the Participle. • Press Return, or click on the search button.


Let's examine the results. It is apparent that the unwanted attributive Participle is gone. Only conjunctive Participles are now found.

How to Search for Subject Substantival Participles


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The name Participle suggests that they take part of the two different parts of speech: verb and adjective. As verbs, they have tense and voice; as adjectives, they have case and gender and number. All adjectives, in Greek, can be substantivized if they are arthrous, provided that they are not adjunct to a Noun in the same phrase. If there is, then the article specifies the Noun, and the adjective is an adjunct to the Noun; We use to say that the adjective is attributive. The phrase ὁ πονηρὸς ἄνθρωπος means “the evil man”, as the adjective is adjunct to ἄνθρωπος.

The case is different in the Clause: ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ (Mat 6:13). This means “deliver us from the evil one" (if we take the Genitive as masculine) or “deliver us from evil” (if we take the Genitive as neuter), as there is no Substantive for the adjective to lean on. This is what interests us now. In the GNT there are plenty of substantivized Participles. They can be Subject or Complement (Blass-Debrunner-Funk § 411). With the syntax module we can easily search for them. In this post, we will search for Subject Substantive Participles (Blass-Debrunner-Funk § 413):




• When prompted, choose Subject Phrase, then click OK or press Return • Drag the Article element and drop it into the first column of the SUBJECT

PHRASE • When prompted, choose Case: Nominative, then click OK or press Return • Drag the Clause element and drop it into the second column of the SUBJECT

PHRASE • When prompted, choose Dependent and Subject, then click OK or press Return • Drag the Verb element and drop it into the first column of the Subj.

DEPENDENT Clause • When prompted, choose Mood: participle and Case: Nominative • We need to leave the box “Search both directions” unchecked, as the article

must come before the participle that it specifies. • Press Return, or click on the search button.

The results will look like this:

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If we examine the results, we notice one false hit in Matthew 1:23 μεθερμηνευόμενον. Apart from it, the other results are sound. The false hit is due to the fact that there are many subordinates in the Sentence, and the search find a remote superordinate Subject Clause. However, we may easily remove any false hit in the same way that we used when searching for conjunctive Participles. The reason is the same: a participial Subject Clause always has the same Subject as its superordinate Clause. As a result, the subordinate Subject Clause never encloses a Null Subject. It will be enough to tell this to Accordance. Let's modify the search:

• Drag the element VERB participle nominative and drop it into the second column of the Subj. DEPENDENT

• Drag the element antecedent and drop it into the first column of the Subj. DEPENDENT

• Drag the element NOT and drop it over ANTECEDENT • Press Return, or click on the search button.


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This time, the results are what we expected.

How to Search for Complement Substantival Participles


We have already searched for substantivized Participles that are Subject. We will now search for Participles that are Complement (Blass-Debrunner-Funk § 413). With the syntax module we can easily do it. I. We will first search for Complement Substantive Participles that take the Accusative case. We can build the search as follows:




• When prompted, choose Complement Phrase, then click OK or press Return • Drag the Article element and drop it into the first column of the

COMPLEMENT PHRASE • When prompted, choose the Case you want to search for: let's say: Accusative,

then click OK or press Return • Drag the Clause element and drop it into the second column of the

COMPLEMENT PHRASE

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• When prompted, choose Mood: participle and Case: Accusative • We need to leave the box “Search both directions” unchecked, as the article

must come before the participle that it specifies. • Press Return, or click on the search button.


The results look as expected. If we examine the hits, we will see that, as a rule, the Subject of the superordinate Clause will be different from the Subject of the participial Clause. As a result, no assumption can be done on the Subject of the Participle.

In this situation, it is desirable for the user to be informed about the Subject of the Participle. In order to provide such information as can be gathered, I have inserted within the participial Clause a null Subject, that will have a number like 0, 01, 02. If it is 0, then the Subject of the Participle has no antecedent. If it is 01, then outside the clause there will be an antecedent marked 1; and so on. In the example we have searched for a Participle in the Accusative. We may change that to Genitive, or Dative; but we will need to be careful to change also the case of the declined Article in the encompassing Complement Phrase. II. Second, we will search for Complement Substantive Participles that take the Dative case. We will modify the search above as follows:

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• Double click on the element ARTICLE: Accusative • When prompted, change Accusative to Dative, then click OK or press Return • (As an alternative, we can point inside the element ARTICLE, then select

Accusative and manually type Dative instead) • Within the Compl. DEPENDENT Clause, double-click on Verb • When prompted, change Case: Accusative to Case: Dative, then click OK or

press Return • (As an alternative, we can point inside the element VERB, then select Accusative

and manually type Dative instead) • Press Return, or click on the search button.


III. Third, we will search for Complement Substantive Participles that take the Genitive case. Following the same steps, we can change Dative to Genitive. The results will look like this:

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One caveat: the logic of the search engine is such that it is not possible for the element AGREE to cross the Clause boundary. This is why we need to choose Genitive, or Dative, or Accusative in both the Article and the Participle. If we did, the results would be unreliable.

How to Search for Absolute Genitives


Usually we think of syntax searches as something involving the Greek or Hebrew Construct Window. That is true for complex searches, or searches involving a clause o phrase. However, many interesting things can be found also in the main Search Window. If I type: [ANY genitive]@[Subject] I will find any Genitive that is Subject. In Greek, this happens when the Predicate is a Genitive Participle. In other words, the result of the search will be a genitive absolute. Instead of entering [ANY genitive], I could have entered a part of speech, as [NOUN genitive] or [PRONOUN genitive]. This is good if I want to restrict my search to Pronouns or Nouns. But if I want to make it general, [ANY genitive] will fit better my purpose.


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I have suggested a way of searching for a Genitive Absolute. Sometimes we find two of them, connected with a coordinating conjunction (usually καί). The second Genitive Absolute may be hard to find, as its Subject can be omitted: it is understood that it is the same as the Subject of the first Genitive Absolute. As a consequence, we cannot search for a [Subject] that is also [ANY genitive]: Accordance can’t find what is not there. Rather, we need to search for two Genitive Participles, that are part of two Adjunct Dependent Clauses. In turn, the two clauses will be part of the same Predicate Phrase, as they are both adverbial adjuncts to the same Predicate We can do this as follows:




• When prompted, choose Predicate Phrase • Drag the Clause element and drop it into the first column, within the

PREDICATE PHRASE • When prompted, choose Dependent and Adjunct • Drag the Verb element and drop it into the first column of the Adjun.

DEPENDENT Clause • When prompted, choose Mood: participle and Case: Genitive • Press the option key, click on Adjun. DEPENDENT and drag the whole clause

to the first free column of the PREDICATE PHRASE. This will duplicate the Adjun. DEPENDENT Clause with its content.



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Let us examine the results in Search Text Window. The first hit is Matthew 13:19. The first Genitive absolute is παντὸς ἀκούοντος etc., where παντὸς is the Subject and ἀκούοντος is the Verb in the Predicate. The second Genitive absolute is μὴ συνιέντος. The Verb in the Predicate is συνιέντος. There is no overt Subject, as it is understood that the Subject is still παντός that appeared in the preceding Clause. The second hit is Mark 6:22. The first Genitive absolute is εἰσελθούσης τῆς θυγατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ἡρῳδιάδος etc., where εἰσελθούσης is the Verb in the Predicate and τῆς θυγατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ἡρῳδιάδος is the Subject. The second Genitive absolute is ὀρχησαμένης. The Verb in the Predicate is ὀρχησαμένης. There is no overt Subject, as it is understood that the Subject is the same that appeared in the preceding Clause. And so on.

How to Search for Attributive Participles


We have already searched for arthrous Participles that are Subject or Complement. It's time to turn to those that are Adjunct. Adjunct arthrous Participles are normally Adjunct to a non-verbal Phrase, and as such are widely known as attributive Participles. In the GNT-T module, even without the syntax add-on, it was already possible to search for articular Participles. In the Search Text window. A good start could be the following search: [Art] <FOLLOWED BY> <WITHIN 2 Words> [Verb participle ] The results would look like this:

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If we examine the results, we notice some false hits. In Matthew 2:13, the Article doesn’t specify the Participle, as it is in a different case. Such false hits may be avoided, by adding one and the same case to both the Article and the Participle. The search in the Search Text window would then become: [Art genit] <FOLLOWED BY> <WITHIN 2 Words> [Verb participle genit] or [Art dative] <FOLLOWED BY> <WITHIN 2 Words> [Verb participle dative] and so on. If we wanted to search at the same time for every possible case, we could turn to the Greek Construct Window, and have the Article and the Participle AGREE in Gender, Number and Case. The search would look like this:

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Let's examine the results. Matthew 1:16 looks all right, but Matthew 1:19-20 doesn't. There two wrong results, because the search cannot know that the Article and the Participle don't belong to the same Phrase. In order to make sure of it, we will need the syntax add-on. Also Matthew 1:20 is not right, because τὸ … γεννηθέν is a Subject substantival Participle. It was found nevertheless, because without the syntax we cannot distinguish between substantival Participles and attributive Participles. Both of them are arthrous Participles, so the presence of the Article cannot be enough to distinguish between them. So we need to use the syntax add-on. Let's recall first that, according to the Greek syntax module, an attributive Participle is an articular Participle that is Adjunct to a non-verbal Phrase. Also, the Participle will have an understood Subject, that will be the same as the word that the Participle is attribute to. An example will be needed: in the Phrase ὁ τεχθεὶς βασιλεύς, the Verb τεχθεὶς has an implied Subject. Who has been born? The answer is βασιλεύς. In the syntax, the implied Subject of such Participles is a Null Subject, that has an Antecedent. The Antecedent is βασιλεύς. In the syntax tree, the implied Subject is marked as 01, and the correlative number 1 goes with its Antecedent βασιλεύς. Both 01 and 1 can be found in a search for Antecedents. With this in mind, we will build the search as follows:




• When prompted, choose Dependent and Adjunct, then click OK or press Return

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• Drag the element Antecedent and drop it into the first column of the Adjun. DEPENDENT Clause

• Drag the element SUBJECT and drop it into the first column of the same Clause, below the element ANTECEDENT

• Drag the Verb element and drop it into the second column of the Adjun. DEPENDENT Clause

• When prompted, choose Mood: participle. If you want to find a specific Case, select it. Otherwise, participle will be enough. Then click OK or press Return

• We need to leave the box “Search both directions” unchecked, as the Subject must come before the participle.



This finds the attributive participles. The search may be narrowed down by clicking on the element VERB participle and adding gender, number and case. [As a provisional note, Matthew 1:23 show among the results, because μεθερμηνευόμενον has an antecedent, even if it shouldn't. It will be removed in the next update to the syntax.]

How to Search for Conditional Clauses

Posted 13 November 2011 - 02:37 PM

In the GNT-T syntax add-on, circumstantial (also called adverbial) Clauses are an important subset of Adjunct Clauses, namely those that depend on a Predicate Phrase. Among circumstantial Clauses we can find such well-known sub-classes of Clauses as causal Clauses, temporal Clauses, purpose Clauses, result Clauses, and so on.

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How can we distinguish between on sub-class and another? I am calling them sub-classes for practical purposes, that will become apparent later. For now, let’s say that a distinction is drawn basing on the semantics of the conjunction that introduces the Clause. Let’s give a few examples of conjunctions and corresponding circumstantial Clauses: the conjunction ὅτι introduces a causal Clause, the conjunction ὅτε introduces a temporal Clause, the conjunction ὥστε introduces a result Clause, the conjunction ὅπως introduces a purpose Clause, the conjunction εἰ introduce a conditional Clause, and so on. In Accordance, even without the syntax add-on the GNT-T module allows us to search for conjunctions: in the Search Text window, we can enter a group of conjunctions, let’s say conditional conjunctions. We may write by hand: ει <OR> εαν <OR> ειπερ Or we may use the “Enter Tag” search command, as follows:

• Open the Search Text window • From the Menu Search, select “Enter Tag”, then choose “Conjunction” • When prompted, select Subclass “conditional”, then press Return or click OK • Press Return or click on the Search button to perform the search

The results will show all the verses that contain one of the conditional conjunctions. In order to know what conjunctions were found, we can click on the Details menu, and choose Analysis. Now enters the syntax add-on: using the Construct window, the syntax allows us to have a circumstantial Clause follow the conjunction. We need to take into account that the conjunction lies outside the Clause boundary, usually immediately before it. Sometimes a particle like δέ may stand between the conjunction and the Clause, so we will need to use the WITHIN element. We will build the search as follows:



• In the Greek Construct window, drag the Conj. element and drop it into the first column

• When prompted, choose Subclass: conditional, then click OK or press Return • Drag the element CLAUSE and drop it into the second column • When prompted, choose Dependent clause only, then Adjunct • Drag the element WITHIN and drop it between the first and the second column. • When prompted, enter 3, then click OK or press Return

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• Press Return or click on the Search button to perform the search


For the moment, the results look just like those we had already found. But now we are also searching for the Clause, and we can use it in order to look for specific sets of conditional clauses. We know that Tense or Mood of the Verb determine what kind of condition we have: real, potential, expected or unreal (see Blass-Debrunner-Funk §§ 371-373). If the Verb takes the Present or Perfect Indicative, the emphasis will be on the reality of the assumption. We can modify our search as follows:

• In the Greek Construct window, drag the element Verb and drop it into the firs column of the Adjun. DEPENDENT Clause

• When prompted, Shift-click to present; then Shift-click to choose: Tense: perfect

• Also choose Mood: Indicative, then click OK or press Return • Press Return or click on the Search button to perform the search


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If we want to find instead unreal conditions, we will need to modify the tense to imperfect, aorist or pluperfect. This can be done as follows:

• Double-click the element Verb • When prompted, Shift-click to choose Tense: imperfect; then Shift-click to

choose: Tense: aorist; then Shift-click to choose: Tense: pluperfect • Press Return or click on the Search button to perform the search


If we want to find instead potential conditions, which take the optative, we will need to remove the Tense and change the Mood to Mood: optative The results will look like this:

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If we want to find instead expected conditions, which take the subjunctive, we will need to remove the Tense and change the Mood: indicative to Mood: subjunctive The results will look like this:

Sorting out ὅτι Clauses


In Greek, some conjunctions can be used with different kinds of dependent Clauses. This is the case with ὅτι, that is found in Complement, Subject, Appositive, or Adjunct Clauses. An Adjunct Clause introduced by ὅτι is usually a causal Clause. Thanks to the syntax add-on, we can easily sort out the ὅτι Clauses according to their syntactical function. We will need to prepare four different searches.

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We will search first for Adjunct Clauses introduced by ὅτι. We will proceed as follows:



• In the Greek Construct window, drag the LEX element and drop it into the first column

• When prompted, type or select ὅτι, then click OK or press Return • Drag the element CLAUSE and drop it into the second column • When prompted, choose Dependent clause only, then Adjunct, then click OK or

press Return • Drag the element WITHIN and drop it between the LEX element and the

Adjun. DEPENDENT element • When prompted, enter 2 (so as to allow for an intervening word), then click OK

or press Return • Press Return or click on the Search button to perform the search


We have found Clauses introduced by ὅτι that are Adjunct to the Predicate of the superordinate Clause. Second, we will search for Complement Clauses introduced by ὅτι. We will modify the existing search as follows:

• In the Greek Construct window, double-click on the element Adjun. DEPENDENT

• When prompted, choose Complement, then click OK or press Return • Press Return or click on the Search button to perform the search

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We have found Clauses introduced by ὅτι that are complement of the Predicate of the superordinate Clause. Third, we will search for Subject Clauses introduced by ὅτι. We will modify the existing search as follows:

• In the Greek Construct window, double-click on the element Compl. DEPENDENT

• When prompted, choose Subject, then click OK or press Return • Double-click on the element WITHIN and change 2 to 1 (so as to avoid

intervening words) • Press Return or click on the Search button to perform the search


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If we examine the results, we will see that we have found some Clauses introduced by ὅτι that are Subject of the superordinate Clause. For instance, in Matthew 4:6 the ὅτι Clause is the Subject of the passive Verb γέγραπται. What is written? ὅτι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται: “That he will command to His angels etc.” Mark 2:1, 4:38, 7:6; 11:17, etc., fall into the same pattern. We also have false hits, as in Matthew 17:10; 26:54 or in Mark 9:11. The reason is that we searched for ὅτι followed by a Subject Clause, and the result shows this. In the three false hits that I have quoted, the search didn't take into account that the Subject Clause is actually the Subject of the Verb δεῖ that follows. This means that the results of any search like this needs to be interpreted. We still need to assess our search results, in order to see if some unexpected factor contributed to them. The syntax add-on provides another tool to do this: the tool is the Syntax tree. To open it, we will need to click on the symbol in the upper right corner, as in the picture:

With the Syntax tree pane open, we can now turn to examine Matthew 17:10, as in the picture:

If we look at the end of the verse, we notice a speech Clause, that contains what the scribes say. In that Clause, δεῖ is the Predicate, and the subordinate Clause Ἠλίαν… ἐλθεῖν

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acts as Subject. So, this is the dependent Subject Clause that was found. Even if it follows ὅτι, it doesn’t directly depend on ὅτι. Matthew 26:54 and Mark 9:11 are similar. The search may be refined, of course. Even so, it provides the means to speeds up the process of finding the syntactic pattern that we are looking for: it is a heuristic tool. Fourth, we will search for Appositive Clauses introduced by ὅτι. We will modify the existing search as follows:

• In the Greek Construct window, double-click on the element Subj. DEPENDENT

• When prompted, choose Appositive, then click OK or press Return • Double-click on the element WITHIN and change 2 to 1 (so as to avoid

intervening words) • Press Return or click on the Search button to perform the search


If we examine the results, we will see the Clause ὅτι Ναζωραῖος κληθήσεται acts as Apposition to the Subject Phrase τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν (on this Subject Phrase, see the post on Participles in Subject Clauses).

Sorting out ὅτι Clauses in the Search Text window


We already went through a way of setting up a search for ὅτι Clauses in the Greek construct window. There is a faster way, that makes use of the syntax in the Search Text window. 1) If we enter:

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οτι @ [COMPLEMENT] we get all ὅτι that introduce a Complement Clause. 2) If we enter: οτι @ [SUBJECT] we get all ὅτι that introduce a Subject Clause. Such Clauses will be Subject of passive verbs or of verbs like μέλει. 3) If we enter: οτι @ [ADJUNCT] we get all ὅτι that introduce an Adjunct Clause. They will mostly be causal Clauses. 4) If we enter: οτι @ [APPOSITIVE] we get all ὅτι that introduce an Appositive Clause. And so on. It is very convenient, and faster that building a Construct search. The drawback is that we won't be able to add content to the Clause. In order to do that, we will need to build first the Construct search as detailed in the post before this, and then drag and drop elements into the Clause.

greek syntax search in accordance - nt resourcesaccording to blass-debrunner-funk 416, a participle...

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