Samuel Lamerson - English Grammar to Ace New Testament Greek

In six years of teaching first-year Greek at the seminary level, it has become apparent to me that one of the greatest stumbling blocks to learning a foreign language is the lack of familiarity with the basic grammar of ones mother tongue. It is, after all, difficult to understand how a Greek infinitive differs from an English infinitive if you do not know what an infinitive is. I hope that this book will meet a need among those students who enter the first year of Greek study with fear and trembling.

This book is written for that student who has been out of school for some time and has forgotten a great deal of grammatical knowledge. There may be others who, while they have not been out of school for a great length of time, still need a refresher course on grammatical terms and concepts. Others may have simply gotten by in school without ever really getting a grasp of basic grammar. This book is not a substitute for a full English grammar. It is a quick refresher course for those who find themselves in need either before or during their Greek studies. If you are in any of these categories, this book is for you.

This book is set up so that it can be used in a variety of ways. For example, the professor can use it as a guide in refreshing the students English grammar during the first session of each new chapter, assigning the corresponding chapter for the grammatical concept being studied (e.g., for deponent verbs, read ch. 10 in this book).

Or one can also take what I believe is a better approach: to study the entire book for the first few class sessions, and then review the pertinent chapters and exercises as the class moves along in a first-year grammar. It is for this reason that many of the exercises have both Greek and English. One can initially do the exercises in English, then go back for a review when the corresponding chapter is studied in the Greek class. Dont feel bad about not being able to read the Greek exercises at first. By the end of the first year, you will have no trouble with the English or the Greek exercises.

I truly believe that this small tome can be a great help to you as you enter the wonderful world of New Testament Greek. Too often students let unfamiliarity with English grammatical concepts quench the thirst for the study of the Greek language. With this book as a road map, the journey should be much easier.

I have tried to make this book as fun and entertaining as possible. This has not always been easy (after all, it is a book about grammar). I hope it will help you to overcome whatever fear you may have of the study of language and allow a little fun to creep into your study. Because I paid my way through school by working as an entertainer (you may catch a rerun of my juggling act on Nickelodeon), I hope that some of this book will be entertaining as well as informative. The study of Greek can, and should be, a fun, rewarding, and spiritual experience. Dont let any second-year students tell you different.

Here are a few general tips on using this book and on learning New Testament Greek.

1. Read for understanding. Make sure that as you read the textbook, you read slowly and carefully before moving on to the next chapter. Make a serious effort to master the major components of a chapter before continuing.
2. Work daily. A course in New Testament Greek might tempt some students to study merely in order to prepare for class, in semi-weekly sessions. A much more productive method of study is to set aside sixty to ninety minutes per day (five to six days per week) to work on Greek. Organize your life to keep the tyranny of the urgent from robbing you of an opportunity to learn the language well.
3. Work hard. The most important part of learning any language is discipline. There simply is no substitute for the hard work of memorizing, reading, working through the examples, and working hard to try to understand what each lesson is attempting to teach. Above all, keep up with your assignments both in grammar and (especially) in vocabulary. Once you get behind, you need to work doubly hard to catch up as the class moves ahead.
4. Work smart. Use the tools that are at hand for you. The computer tools that are available either for your PC or your handheld device are wonderful ways to keep up with your vocabulary. If you are using Mounces Basics of Biblical Greek (BBG), you should make use of the CD that comes with the book as well as think about purchasing the vocabulary program for your handheld device.
5. Learn the proper terminology. Many times a students problem stems not from the fact that she cannot understand a particular concept, but from the fact that she does not understand the terms that are being used. In Appendix 1 of this work you will find a glossary of select grammatical terms. When these terms are used in the body of the text, they will be followed by an asterisk (*) indicating that you may find a short definition of the term in the appendix.
6. Dont neglect your vocabulary! This is critical. All the grammatical knowledge in the world will be of little value to you if you do not know what the words mean. In Appendix 2 you will find some suggestions for vocabulary memorization.