English to Greek Composition: The Restricted Scope

The restriction is the help

In Section A you get a choice. Explain some Greek forms, or translate three short English sentences INTO Greek. Most students look at the second one and decide immediately. Writing Greek sounds much harder than explaining it. ⚠️⚠️ LOOK AT WHAT THE SPECIFICATION ACTUALLY FENCES OFF FIRST, BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN UNUSUALLY KIND HERE. This option is not governed by everything you have learned. It is governed by a RESTRICTED list, and the restriction is severe. ⭐ THE SYNTAX YOU ARE ALLOWED IS: THE ORDINARY USES OF THE CASES, AND DIRECT STATEMENTS AND DIRECT QUESTIONS. THAT IS ALL OF IT. No relative clauses. No reporting what somebody said. No conditions, no purpose, no result. If a sentence needs one clause to lean on another, it is outside the fence. ⭐ AND THE VERBS YOU ARE ALLOWED ARE THE PRESENT, THE IMPERFECT AND THE AORIST, INDICATIVE, ACTIVE. No middle. No passive. No participles, no infinitives. And the subjunctive and optative are not on your course at all, so they cannot appear. The vocabulary is a closed list of ninety-eight entries, which is small enough to actually know. ⭐⭐ PUT THOSE TOGETHER AND SOMETHING USEFUL FALLS OUT. THE GREEK SENTENCE YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO WRITE CAN ONLY EVER BE A SHORT, SIMPLE, DIRECT ONE. ⚠️ SO THE SKILL BEING TESTED IS NOT KNOWING MORE GREEK. IT IS SAYING THE ENGLISH A SIMPLER WAY FIRST, AND THEN WRITING THAT. Here is why that matters so much. English puts complicated things into perfectly ordinary sentences without anybody noticing. "The general, who was wise, sent the messenger" feels simple. It contains a relative clause. ⚠️ TRANSLATE IT WORD BY WORD AND YOU WALK STRAIGHT OUT OF THE FENCE IN ABOUT FOUR WORDS. Rewrite it first and the problem disappears. The general was wise. He sent the messenger. Two short direct statements, both of them entirely inside what you are allowed, and together they mean the same thing. ⭐⭐ THAT REWRITING STEP IS THE WHOLE METHOD, AND IT HAPPENS IN ENGLISH, BEFORE ANY GREEK IS WRITTEN AT ALL. Carry one question through everything that follows: what is the simplest direct sentence that still means this, and is every word of it on the list?

What this option leaves out

The restricted scope for this composition task, set out as what is out, what is in, and what that does to how you work.

Tap the two you could actually write

Tap the TWO English sentences that are already inside the restricted scope, so they could be written in Greek without rewriting.

• The soldier guards the house.
• Is the general wise?
• The messenger, who was tired, ran to the river.
• The slave said that he had the book.

Where word by word goes wrong

Asked to put "The general, who was wise, sent the messenger" into Greek, a student starts at the first word and works along. What goes wrong, and where?

• At "who": the English contains a relative clause, and this option allows direct statements and questions only, so the sentence has to be rewritten as simpler English before any Greek is written
• At "general": the word is unlikely to be on the Restricted list
• At "sent": the aorist is not available in this option
• Nothing goes wrong: working along the sentence is the right approach

Five words for this option

Five terms, each defined by what it is. The first two are the ones that decide whether a sentence is inside the fence.

Match each sentence to what blocks it

Two that follow from the restriction

Select the TWO statements that follow from this option being governed by the restricted lists.

• Most of the work happens in English, before any Greek is written, because the given sentence usually has to be simplified first
• Writing two short direct sentences where the English had one longer one is a legitimate answer, not a retreat
• The restriction makes this option harder than the recognition option
• Translating the given English word by word is the safest approach, since it cannot change the meaning

Rewrite before you translate

Ten marks, three short sentences, and the students who do well are not the ones who know the most Greek. ⚠️ THEY ARE THE ONES WHO SPEND THE FIRST MINUTE IN ENGLISH. ⭐⭐ READ THE ENGLISH AND WORK OUT WHAT IT IS ACTUALLY SAYING. Not the words. The meaning. REWRITE IT AS THE SIMPLEST DIRECT ENGLISH THAT STILL MEANS THE SAME THING. ⭐ SHORT SENTENCES. SOMEBODY DOES SOMETHING. IF THE ORIGINAL HAD A CLAUSE HANGING OFF IT, BREAK IT INTO TWO SENTENCES AND LET BOTH STAND UP ON THEIR OWN. CHECK EVERY WORD OF YOUR SIMPLER VERSION AGAINST THE RESTRICTED LIST. The list is closed, so this is a real check rather than a hope. If a word is not there, find one that is and say almost the same thing. DECIDE THE CASE OF EACH NOUN FROM THE JOB IT DOES. Who is doing it, who is receiving it, whose is it, and what does any preposition in front of it require. DECIDE THE VERB'S TENSE AND PERSON, remembering that only the present, the imperfect and the aorist indicative active are available. ⭐ THEN WRITE IT, AND READ IT BACK AGAINST WHAT YOU DECIDED RATHER THAN AGAINST THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH. ⚠️ THREE HABITS THAT COST MARKS HERE. ⚠️ THE FIRST IS STARTING AT THE FIRST ENGLISH WORD. By the time you notice that the sentence contains a relative clause you have already committed to a shape you cannot finish. ⚠️ THE SECOND IS TRYING TO KEEP EVERY NUANCE. ⭐ THE MARKS ARE FOR ACCURATE GREEK THAT MEANS WHAT THE ENGLISH MEANT, NOT FOR MATCHING ITS STYLE. A PLAINER SENTENCE THAT IS RIGHT BEATS AN ELEGANT ONE THAT IS OUT OF SCOPE. ⚠️ AND THE THIRD IS GUESSING A FORM YOU ARE NOT SURE OF. If you cannot remember a verb's aorist, use a tense you can form, or choose a different verb from the list that says nearly the same thing. ⭐ THAT IS NOT CHEATING. IT IS WHAT A CLOSED LIST IS FOR.

One sentence, simplified then written

Here is a sentence of the kind this option gives you. "The general, who was wise, led the soldiers to the river." ⚠️ A STUDENT WHO STARTS TRANSLATING GETS ABOUT THREE WORDS IN BEFORE THE TROUBLE ARRIVES, BECAUSE "WHO WAS WISE" IS A RELATIVE CLAUSE AND RELATIVE CLAUSES ARE OUTSIDE THIS OPTION ENTIRELY. ⭐ STEP ONE. WHAT IS IT ACTUALLY SAYING? Two things. The general was wise. The general led the soldiers to the river. ⭐ STEP TWO. REWRITE IT AS SIMPLE DIRECT ENGLISH. "The general was wise. He led the soldiers to the river." Two sentences instead of one, both direct statements, nothing depending on anything else. ⚠️ AND NOTHING HAS BEEN LOST. ⭐ STEP THREE. CHECK THE WORDS AGAINST THE LIST. General, wise, lead, soldier, river, and the little words. All present. στρατηγός, σοφός, ἄγω, στρατιώτης, ποταμός. ⭐ STEP FOUR. DECIDE THE CASES FROM THE JOBS. The general is doing it, so nominative. The soldiers are being led, so accusative. And "to the river" has a preposition in front of it: the list prints πρός + acc, so the river goes into the accusative and there is nothing to decide. ⭐ STEP FIVE. DECIDE THE VERBS. Both sentences are about the past. εἰμί has its imperfect printed in the list as ἦν. And ἄγω prints its aorist as ἤγαγον, so a third person singular aorist is available. STEP SIX. WRITE IT. ὁ στρατηγὸς σοφὸς ἦν. (The general was wise.) τοὺς στρατιώτας πρὸς τὸν ποταμὸν ἤγαγεν. (He led the soldiers to the river.) ⭐⭐ NOTICE WHAT NEVER HAPPENED. NOTHING CLEVER. NO CONSTRUCTION ANYBODY HAD TO REMEMBER. THE HARD PART WAS DONE IN ENGLISH, IN ABOUT TWENTY SECONDS, AND WHAT WAS LEFT WAS TWO SHORT SENTENCES OF THE KIND YOU HAVE BEEN WRITING SINCE YOUR FIRST TERM. ⚠️ AND IF YOU HAD NOT BEEN SURE OF ἤγαγεν, THE IMPERFECT ἦγε WOULD HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE INSTEAD, BECAUSE THE IMPERFECT INDICATIVE ACTIVE IS INSIDE THE SCOPE TOO. THERE IS ALMOST ALWAYS A ROUTE YOU ARE CERTAIN OF.

Order the composition method

Put these six moves into the order that turns an English sentence into Greek you can actually write.

• Work out what the English is actually saying, rather than what its words are
• Rewrite it as the simplest direct English that still means the same, splitting it in two if it needs it
• Check every word of the simpler version against the Restricted Vocabulary List
• Decide the case of each noun from the job it does, and from any preposition in front of it
• Decide each verb's tense and person, using only the present, imperfect or aorist indicative active
• Write it out, then read it back against what you decided rather than against the original English

Assemble the Greek sentence

Build the Greek for: The citizens send the gifts to the general. Every form you need is on the Restricted list.

The restricted scope run

Five questions on working inside the fence. Three lives.

Complete each Greek sentence

The slave guards the horse: ὁ δοῦλος τὸν _____ φυλάσσει. The citizens send the gifts: οἱ _____ τὰ δῶρα πέμπουσιν. The messenger is in the market-place: ὁ ἄγγελος ἐν τῇ _____ ἐστίν. The soldier took the letter: ὁ στρατιώτης τὴν ἐπιστολὴν _____.

Which tense does the English want

You are writing "The soldiers were guarding the house" and then "The soldiers took the letter". Why do these two need different tenses?

• The first describes something going on over a period, which the imperfect gives, while the second is a single completed action, which the aorist gives
• They do not: both are past, so either past tense will do
• The first should be present, because guarding is still happening
• The second is outside this option, because the aorist is not available

Three attempts to rescue

Three students start a composition sentence. Each has understood the English perfectly well, and each is about to lose marks for the same underlying reason.

• Given "The citizens, who were brave, guarded the market-place", a student begins writing Greek at the first word. What should they do instead?
• A student has simplified the English correctly but cannot remember the aorist of the verb they want. What is the best move?
• A student produces an elegant Greek sentence that captures the tone of the English beautifully, using a participle. What is the problem?

Explain how to prepare an English sentence

Take the sentence "The general, who was wise, ordered the soldiers to guard the house." Explain what makes it impossible to write directly in the restricted scope, how you would rewrite it in English first, and how you would then check it is ready to translate.

• Identify the two separate things in the English that sit outside the restricted scope
• Say why each of them is out, naming what this option does and does not allow
• Rewrite the sentence as simple direct English, splitting it into more than one sentence if that is what it takes
• Explain what you changed and why the meaning still survives the rewriting
• Say how you would check every word of your new version against the Restricted Vocabulary List
• Finish with what you would do if a verb you needed had an aorist you could not remember