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Notes/Classical Greek/Vocabulary and linguistic range
Notes · Classical GreekUK · A-Levels

Vocabulary and linguistic range

The specification says the same thing three times, once for each of the language components: there is no Defined Vocabulary List, and learners should build on and develop their range of vocabulary through wider reading of texts during the A Level course. That is not an omission but a design decision, and it changes what revision means. Vocabulary at A-Level is not a list to be memorised but a system to be understood — roots that alternate their vowels, suffixes that build nouns out of verbs, prefixes that reshape a verb's meaning and its spelling at the same time, prepositions whose sense changes with the case they govern, and a habit of deduction reliable enough to be used at speed in an examination.

5 sections·~41 min reading time·3 competencies·Level Foundation 1 · Standard 3 · Advanced 1

T·0222 / 10
Exam profile
AO1 · Extend and demonstrate knowledge of vocabulary and linguistic structures through continued linguistic study, wider reading and the study of passages of Classical GreekAO1 · Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the linguistic structures of material written by ancient authors, including an understanding of individual words, phrases and sentencesAO2 · Recognise the vocabulary of a set text closely enough to describe an author's lexical choices as choices
Operators:deduceidentifyexplaintranslateanalysedistinguishjustify

basic level

AS Level Classical Greek (H044) publishes a Defined Vocabulary List, and AS unseens stay inside it. An AS candidate's task is to know that list securely and to recognise its members when they appear with a prefix or in an unfamiliar tense.

higher level

At A-Level the list is a floor rather than a ceiling: the unseen passages are unadapted and every paper will contain words no list contains. What is examined is therefore not recall but range plus method — enough read Greek to make an unfamiliar word feel like a member of a family, and a procedure reliable enough to produce a defensible translation of it in fifteen seconds.

Depth

Reading depth: In depth

Text

Text size: Standard

Contents · 5 sections▾
  1. Vocabulary and linguistic range
    • 01No list: how vocabulary is actually acquired on this specification○
    • 02The shape of a Greek word: roots, vowel gradation, suffixes and compounding◐
    • 03Compound verbs and the prepositional prefixes◐
    • 04Prepositions and the cases they govern◐
    • 05Deducing an unknown word, and the exam habits that make it pay●
§ 01

No list: how vocabulary is actually acquired on this specification#

●○○FoundationLPOCR H444 Component 01 — there is no Defined Vocabulary List for this component; learners should build on and develop their range of vocabulary through wider reading of texts during the A Level courseLPOCR H444 Component 02 — the same statement is repeated for the composition or comprehension paperLPDfE GCE AS and A level subject content for ancient languages

Key points

The specification's position is explicit and it is repeated for both language components: there is no Defined Vocabulary List at A-Level, and learners build on and develop their range through wider reading of texts during the course. The floor is the list published for AS Level Classical Greek (H044), which a candidate coming through the AS route will already own; the ceiling is whatever the examiner's chosen passage of Xenophon or Euripides happens to contain. Since no candidate can know every word in an unadapted classical author, the design of the examination assumes two things instead: that you have read enough continuous Greek for the ordinary vocabulary of narrative prose and tragic dialogue to be automatic, and that you can deduce the rest. Everything in this topic follows from those two assumptions.
Frequency is the lever that makes this tractable. In any page of Attic prose a very small number of words does a very large share of the work: the article in all its forms, εἰμί, the commonest verbs of speaking, going, giving, taking, seeing and making, the prepositions, the pronouns, and above all the particles. A candidate who genuinely owns those, in every form, reads at three or four times the speed of one who owns a longer list less securely. So the first revision priority is not breadth but depth in the core, tested by production rather than recognition: cover the English and produce the Greek, cover the Greek and produce every principal part.
The particles deserve their own paragraph because they are the highest-frequency words in Greek and the ones a dictionary helps with least. μέν and δέ mark a balanced pair and are best rendered by English structure rather than by words — on the one hand and on the other, or simply but, or nothing at all where English uses a semicolon. γάρ is explanatory and looks backwards: for, you see, the reason being. οὖν draws a consequence, δή marks the obvious or the emphatic, γε limits and stresses, τοι appeals to the hearer, ἄρα registers a realisation, μέντοι and καίτοι concede and then resist. Learn them as signals about the shape of the argument, not as vocabulary. In an unseen they tell you what kind of sentence is coming before you have read it, which is worth more than any single item of vocabulary on the page.
The practical method that follows is a reading method, not a list method. Read continuous Greek every week, in quantity, at a level where you meet a handful of new words per page rather than one per line. Keep a running vocabulary book organised by root rather than alphabetically, so that λείπω, ἔλιπον, λοιπός, ἔλλειψις and καταλείπω sit together on one page and reinforce each other. Revisit the same text twice: once slowly for accuracy and once at speed for fluency. And record every word you had to look up in a passage you have already studied, because a word you have looked up twice is a word you have not learned.
Two further points of examination hygiene follow directly from the absence of a list. First, proper names in an unseen are normally glossed on the paper, but they still decline, so recognise that Κύρου is the genitive of Κῦρος and Ἀθηναίων of Ἀθηναῖοι even when the gloss gives only the nominative. Second, English derivatives are a hint and never a proof. δύναμις does give English dynamic, but it means power, force, or a military force; πάθος gives pathos but means experience, suffering, emotion; ἱστορία gives history but in Herodotus means enquiry. Use the derivative to generate a hypothesis and then make the sentence confirm or refute it.
Worked example

Reading a passage for its particles before reading it for its vocabulary

Constructed teaching Greek, not a quotation: οἱ μὲν στρατιῶται ἔμενον, οἱ δὲ ἡγεμόνες ἐβουλεύοντο. οὐ γὰρ ᾔδεσαν ποῖ δεῖ πορεύεσθαι. τέλος οὖν ὁ στρατηγὸς εἶπεν ὅτι μένειν μὲν οὐ δυνατόν, προϊέναι δὲ κίνδυνος. οὗτος δὴ ὁ λόγος πᾶσιν ἤρεσκεν. Work through the passage twice: first mapping only the particles, then translating.

  1. 01First pass: μέν and δέ

    The first sentence is built on a μέν and δέ pair, and each half has a nominative plural subject with the article standing first: οἱ μέν … οἱ δέ. That single observation tells you, before you know either noun, that the sentence contrasts two groups doing two different things. English will not want on the one hand and on the other here; a simple while, or a comma and a but, carries it.

  2. 02First pass: γάρ

    The second sentence opens with οὐ γάρ. γάρ never begins the thought it belongs to; it looks back and explains what has just been said. So this sentence is not new information but the reason for the previous one, and the English should be introduced with for or since or because. Notice too that γάρ is postpositive: it cannot stand first in its clause, so it appears second, and its position is not emphatic.

  3. 03First pass: οὖν and δή

    τέλος οὖν draws the consequence of the deadlock: so, in the end. οὗτος δὴ ὁ λόγος uses δή to point emphatically at the immediately preceding speech: this argument, then — this one, the one you have just heard. Both particles are structural, and both belong in the English as connective words rather than as content.

  4. 04Second pass: the vocabulary that the structure has already prepared

    ἔμενον is imperfect of μένω, they were staying; ἐβουλεύοντο is imperfect middle of βουλεύομαι, they were deliberating; ᾔδεσαν is the pluperfect of οἶδα with imperfect force, they did not know; ποῖ is the interrogative adverb of motion, to where; δεῖ takes an infinitive, it is necessary; πορεύεσθαι is a present middle infinitive, to march. Because the particles have already told you that the second sentence is an explanation, ᾔδεσαν as a past tense is exactly what you expect and needs no second thought.

  5. 05The reported speech

    εἶπεν ὅτι introduces indirect statement with a finite construction, but what follows is a second μέν and δέ pair carrying two infinitive phrases: μένειν μὲν οὐ δυνατόν, προϊέναι δὲ κίνδυνος. Each is a nominal sentence with εἶναι left out, and each has an articular-less infinitive as its subject: staying is not possible, but going forward is a danger. προϊέναι is the present infinitive of πρόειμι, a compound of εἶμι — a form worth recognising here, because the whole clause hangs on it.

  6. 06Assemble

    Keep the two contrasts visible in the English, because they are the structure of the paragraph, and let γάρ, οὖν and δή do their connective work rather than dropping them. A version that renders every particle mechanically reads badly; a version that renders none of them loses the argument.

Result: The soldiers were waiting, while the leaders deliberated; for they did not know where they had to march. So in the end the general said that staying was not possible, but that going forward was dangerous. This argument, then, pleased everybody. The particles gave the shape first: a contrast, an explanation of it, a consequence, and an emphatic reference back.

Exam focus

  • Because no vocabulary list bounds the paper, the examiner can and will include words you have not met; marks are earned by producing a coherent, contextually defensible rendering rather than by leaving a gap (AO1).
  • Particles are examined indirectly in every translation: a version that ignores μέν and δέ loses the shape of the sentence, and a version that ignores γάρ misattributes the logic (AO1).
  • In Component 02 Section A a comprehension question may ask what a particular word or phrase means in context, and the expected answer is a rendering that fits the passage, not a dictionary gloss (AO1).

Typical mistakes

  • Revising vocabulary alphabetically, which separates words that share a root and forces each to be learned twice.
  • Translating μέν and δέ as separate English words in every instance, producing on the one hand and on the other four times on one page.
  • Trusting an English derivative without checking it against the sentence, so that δύναμις becomes dynamic and the clause collapses.

Active revision

Take a page of Attic prose you have already translated once. Cover the English and read it again at speed, marking every word you cannot produce instantly. Then reorganise those words into families by root, adding to each family every relative you already know — the verb, the agent noun, the action noun, the abstract noun and the adjective. Finally, list every particle on the page and write, for each, one sentence saying what it told you about the sentence's structure before you had translated it.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: OCR A Level in Classical Greek (H444) specification (Cambridge OCR) · GCE AS and A level subject content for ancient languages (Department for Education)

§ 02

The shape of a Greek word: roots, vowel gradation, suffixes and compounding#

●●○StandardLPOCR H444 Component 01 and 02 — extend and demonstrate knowledge of vocabulary and linguistic structures through continued linguistic study and wider readingLPOCR H444 Appendix 5d Accidence — nouns, adjectives and adverbs of all standard and common irregular types

Key points

Greek builds its vocabulary from roots that change their vowel systematically, and recognising that alternation converts dozens of apparently unrelated words into one family. The pattern, called ablaut or vowel gradation, shows a root in an e-grade, an o-grade and a zero-grade: λείπω I leave, ἔλιπον I left, λέλοιπα I have left, and from the same root λοιπός remaining and ἔλλειψις a leaving out. τρέπω I turn gives ἔτραπον, τέτροφα, τρόπος a turn or manner, and τροπή a rout. πέμπω I send gives ἔπεμψα and πομπή a procession. φέρω I carry gives φόρος tribute and φορά a carrying. Once you expect the vowel to move, ἔλαβον beside λαμβάνω and ἔπαθον beside πάσχω stop looking like different verbs.
On top of the root sit suffixes, and each suffix has a job that is stable enough to be used as evidence. Agent nouns end in -της, -τήρ or -τωρ: ποιητής a maker or poet, σωτήρ a saviour, ῥήτωρ a speaker. Nouns of action or process end in -σις: ποίησις making, στάσις a standing, and so faction or civil strife; κρίσις a judging, and so a decision. Nouns of result end in -μα, and they are neuter third declension: ποίημα a thing made, a poem; πρᾶγμα a thing done, an affair; γράμμα a thing written, a letter. Abstract nouns end in -ία or -εία or -σύνη: σοφία wisdom, ἀλήθεια truth, δικαιοσύνη justice, σωφροσύνη self-control. Adjectives of relation end in -ικός: πολιτικός belonging to the citizen body, ῥητορικός belonging to the speaker. Adjectives of possibility end in -τος and of obligation in -τέος. The pair ποίησις and ποίημα is the model for the whole system: the same root, one suffix for the activity and one for the product.
Negation and privation are equally systematic. The alpha privative, ἀ- before a consonant and ἀν- before a vowel, negates whatever it is attached to: δίκαιος just gives ἄδικος unjust, πιστός trustworthy gives ἄπιστος untrustworthy or incredible, θάνατος death gives ἀθάνατος deathless, σθένος strength gives ἀσθενής weak, and ἀρχή a beginning or rule gives ἄναρχος without a leader. δυσ- prefixed means badly or with difficulty and εὐ- means well: δύστυχής unfortunate against εὐτυχής fortunate, δυσχερής awkward against εὐχερής easy. These prefixes are so productive that an unfamiliar word beginning with ἀ-, δυσ- or εὐ- should immediately be tested by stripping the prefix and looking at what is left.
Compounding is the other great engine, and Greek compounds far more freely than Latin. Two nouns, or an adjective and a noun, or a verb and a noun, fuse with a connecting vowel: φιλόσοφος a lover of wisdom, δημοκρατία power of the people, ναυμαχία a sea-battle, ἱππόδρομος a horse-course, μισάνθρωπος hating mankind, στρατηγός an army-leader, νομοθέτης a law-setter. The order is usually modifier first and head second, and the second element normally determines the part of speech. Because compounding is regular, a compound you have never seen is often transparent: αὐτόχειρ from αὐτός and χείρ is by one's own hand; πολυπράγμων from πολύς and πρᾶγμα is meddlesome, a person of many affairs.
One warning holds this section together. Word-formation gives you a hypothesis, not a meaning, because words drift. σωφροσύνη is literally soundness of mind but in fifth-century Athenian usage means self-control or moderation, which is a moral and political idea rather than a medical one. τύραννος began as a neutral word for a sole ruler and acquired its hostile sense later. ἱστορία in Herodotus is enquiry, not history in the modern sense. So the procedure is always the same: build the hypothesis from the morphology, then test it against the sentence, and let the sentence win.
Worked example

Building a family from one root, and reading four unfamiliar words out of it

Constructed teaching exercise. Take the root of κρίνω, I judge, I decide, and build its family. Then use that family to translate the underlined words in this constructed teaching Greek: ἡ τῶν δικαστῶν κρίσις οὐκ ἦν δικαία, ἀλλὰ κριτὴς ἄδικος τὸ κρίμα ἐποίησεν, ὥστε πάντες περὶ τῆς κρίσεως ἔλεγον ὅτι κρίσις κριτική τις ἀνάγκη εἴη τῇ πόλει.

  1. 01The root and its grades

    κρίνω has the stem κριν-, with the ν belonging to the present only; the aorist is ἔκρινα and the perfect κέκρικα, both showing a bare κρι-. So the family root is κρι-, and every derivative will show it: that is the anchor for everything that follows.

  2. 02Agent, action, result

    The agent suffix -της gives κριτής, a judge — one who does the judging. The action suffix -σις gives κρίσις, a judging, and hence a decision, a trial, or a crisis in the sense of a turning point. The result suffix -μα gives κρίμα, a thing judged: a verdict. Three suffixes, three quite different English words, all predictable from the root.

  3. 03Adjective and privative

    The relational suffix -ικός gives κριτικός, able to judge, discerning. The verbal adjective in -τος gives κριτός, chosen or picked out. And the alpha privative applied not to this root but to δίκη gives ἄδικος, unjust, which is in the sentence to be translated and is built the same way: strip the ἀ-, recognise δικ-, and you have a word you already know.

  4. 04Now read the sentence

    ἡ τῶν δικαστῶν κρίσις is the decision of the jurors — κρίσις is the action noun, so decision or verdict as a process. κριτὴς ἄδικος is an unjust judge, agent noun plus privative adjective. τὸ κρίμα ἐποίησεν is made the verdict, the result noun. περὶ τῆς κρίσεως is about the decision, the same action noun in the genitive after περί.

  5. 05The hard phrase

    κρίσις κριτική τις ἀνάγκη εἴη τῇ πόλει is deliberately awkward and should be read piece by piece. κριτική is the adjective in -ικός agreeing with κρίσις: a discerning decision. τις is the enclitic indefinite, softening the phrase: some kind of. ἀνάγκη is a necessity, and εἴη is the optative of εἰμί after a past main verb, the mood of reported speech in historic sequence. τῇ πόλει is a dative of the person interested: for the city. So: that some kind of discerning judgement was a necessity for the city.

  6. 06Check the hypothesis against the sentence

    Every rendering above was generated from morphology and then tested. The test that matters is the one that would have caught an error: if κρίσις had been translated as verdict in both places, the last clause would have read a verdict was a necessity, which contradicts the preceding complaint that a verdict had just been given badly. Reading κρίσις as the act of judging in that final clause is what makes the sentence cohere.

Result: The jurors' verdict was not just; rather, an unjust judge made the decision, so that everyone was saying about the trial that some kind of discerning judgement was a necessity for the city. Family from the root κρι-: κρίνω judge, ἔκρινα, κέκρικα; κριτής a judge; κρίσις a judging, a decision, a trial; κρίμα a verdict; κριτικός discerning; κριτός chosen.

Exam focus

  • A word you have never met is frequently a word you already know with a suffix attached; naming the suffix aloud is the fastest route to a defensible rendering (AO1).
  • Component 02 Section A may ask what a word means in context, and an answer that fits the sentence scores where a literal etymological gloss does not (AO1).
  • In a literary answer, noticing that an author has coined or chosen an unusual compound is a legitimate stylistic observation, provided you say what effect it has (AO2 and AO3).

Typical mistakes

  • Translating a -σις noun as a concrete object and a -μα noun as an activity — the two suffixes point in opposite directions.
  • Reading ἀ- as part of the stem rather than as a privative, so that ἄπιστος is hunted for in the dictionary under alpha.
  • Stopping at the literal sense of a compound when the word has acquired a settled idiomatic meaning, as with σωφροσύνη or πράγματα in the sense of trouble.

Active revision

Choose five verbs you know well. For each, write out the family: the present, the aorist stem, the agent noun in -της or -τήρ, the action noun in -σις, the result noun in -μα where one exists, the abstract noun, and any adjective in -ικός or -τος. Then take five unfamiliar words from a passage of prose and, without a dictionary, write for each the root you think it contains, the suffix, the hypothesis this produces, and the words in the sentence that confirm or refute it.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: OCR A Level in Classical Greek (H444) specification (Cambridge OCR) · GCE AS and A level subject content for ancient languages (Department for Education)

§ 03

Compound verbs and the prepositional prefixes#

●●○StandardLPOCR H444 Appendix 5d Accidence — compound verbs of regular formation using all the common prefixes, including associated consonant and vowel changes, and where the prefix retains its normal meaningLPOCR H444 Component 01 — accurately translate unseen material into English

Prepositional prefixes in compound verbs

Prefix, meaning, sound change, exampleTable with 4 columns and 17 rows, Data: Prefix · Core meaning · Sound change · Examples; ἀνά · up, back, again · ἀν- before a vowel · ἀναβαίνω go up; ἀνέρχομαι go back up; ἀντί · against, in return · ἀντ- before a vowel, ἀνθ- before a rough breathing · ἀντιλέγω speak against; ἀνθίσταμαι stand against; ἀπό · away from · ἀπ- before a vowel, ἀφ- before a rough breathing · ἀπέρχομαι go away; ἀφικνέομαι arrive; διά · through, apart, thoroughly · δι- before a vowel · διαβαίνω cross; διέρχομαι go through; εἰς · into · no change · εἰσέρχομαι enter; εἰσβάλλω invade; ἐκ · out of · ἐξ- before a vowel · ἐκβάλλω throw out; ἐξέρχομαι go out; ἐν · in · ἐμ- before a labial, ἐγ- before a velar, ἐλ- before λ · ἐμβάλλω throw in; ἐγγράφω inscribe; ἐπί · on, against, in addition · ἐπ- before a vowel, ἐφ- before a rough breathing · ἐπιτίθημι put on; ἐφίστημι set over; κατά · down, thoroughly · κατ- before a vowel, καθ- before a rough breathing · καταβαίνω go down; καθίστημι appoint; μετά · with, after, expressing change · μετ- before a vowel, μεθ- before a rough breathing · μεταδίδωμι give a share; μεθίστημι change; παρά · alongside, past, contrary to · παρ- before a vowel · παραδίδωμι hand over; παρέχω provide; περί · around, exceedingly · no elision of the iota · περιβάλλω throw around; περιέχω surround; πρό · before, forward · no elision, but crasis is possible · προβαίνω advance; προὔχω project, from προέχω; πρός · towards, in addition · no change · προσβάλλω attack; προσέρχομαι approach; σύν · together with · συμ- before a labial, συγ- before a velar, συλ- before λ, συ- before σ · συμβάλλω join battle; συγγράφω compose; συλλέγω collect; ὑπέρ · over, beyond, on behalf of · no change · ὑπερβάλλω exceed; ὑπερέχω be superior; ὑπό · under, secretly · ὑπ- before a vowel, ὑφ- before a rough breathing · ὑπάρχω exist, be available; ὑφίστημι undertake, highlighted cell: συμ- before a labial, συγ- before a velar, συλ- before λ, συ- before σPREFIXCORE MEANINGSOUND CHANGEEXAMPLESἈΝΆup, back, againἀν- before a vowelἀναβαίνω go up; ἀνέρχομαι goback upἈΝΤΊagainst, in returnἀντ−before a vowel, ἀνθ-before a rough breathingἀντιλέγω speak against;ἀνθίσταμαι stand againstἈΠΌaway fromἀπ−before a vowel, ἀφ−beforea rough breathingἀπέρχομαι go away;ἀφικνέομαι arriveΔΙΆthrough, apart, thoroughlyδι- before a vowelδιαβαίνω cross; διέρχομαι gothroughΕἸΣintono changeεἰσέρχομαι enter; εἰσβάλλωinvadeἘΚout ofἐξ- before a vowelἐκβάλλω throw out; ἐξέρχομαιgo outἘΝinἐμ−before a labial, ἐγ-before a velar, ἐλ−before λἐμβάλλω throw in; ἐγγράφωinscribeἘΠΊon, against, in additionἐπ−before a vowel, ἐφ−beforea rough breathingἐπιτίθημι put on; ἐφίστημιset overΚΑΤΆdown, thoroughlyκατ−before a vowel, καθ-before a rough breathingκαταβαίνω go down; καθίστημιappointΜΕΤΆwith, after, expressingchangeμετ−before a vowel, μεθ-before a rough breathingμεταδίδωμι give a share;μεθίστημι changeΠΑΡΆalongside, past, contrary toπαρ- before a vowelπαραδίδωμι hand over; παρέχωprovideΠΕΡΊaround, exceedinglyno elision of the iotaπεριβάλλω throw around;περιέχω surroundΠΡΌbefore, forwardno elision, but crasis ispossibleπροβαίνω advance; προὔχωproject, from προέχωΠΡΌΣtowards, in additionno changeπροσβάλλω attack;προσέρχομαι approachΣΎΝtogether withσυμ−before a labial, συγ-before a velar, συλ−beforeλ, συ−before σσυμβάλλω join battle;συγγράφω compose; συλλέγωcollectὙΠΈΡover, beyond, on behalf ofno changeὑπερβάλλω exceed; ὑπερέχω besuperiorὙΠΌunder, secretlyὑπ−before a vowel, ὑφ−beforea rough breathingὑπάρχω exist, be available;ὑφίστημι undertake
Fig. 1The specification asks for compound verbs including associated consonant and vowel changes, and this table is that list. Read the third column as a set of collision rules rather than as exceptions: a vowel is dropped, a consonant is aspirated by a following rough breathing, and a nasal takes the point of articulation of what follows. The emphasised cell is σύν, which changes shape more often than any other prefix and therefore hides more dictionary entries.

Key points

Appendix 5d asks for compound verbs of regular formation using all the common prefixes, including associated consonant and vowel changes, and where the prefix retains its normal meaning. Every part of that sentence is doing work. Regular formation means the prefix is one of the ordinary prepositions or the adverbs ἀνά, δυσ-, εὐ-. Associated consonant and vowel changes means that the prefix will not always look like the preposition you know, and the changes are exactly the ones the table sets out. And where the prefix retains its normal meaning marks the boundary of what is deducible: when ἀπό keeps its sense away from, ἀπέρχομαι is transparent, but when a compound has drifted into an idiom the specification is no longer promising you can work it out.
There are three sound changes and they are mechanical. First, elision: a prefix ending in a short vowel drops that vowel before a stem beginning with a vowel, so ἀπό plus ἔρχομαι gives ἀπέρχομαι, διά plus ἔρχομαι gives διέρχομαι, and παρά plus ἔχω gives παρέχω. περί and πρό are the exceptions that never elide their vowels, though πρό may fuse by crasis, as in προὔχω from προέχω. Second, aspiration: when elision brings the prefix's final consonant up against a rough breathing, that consonant is aspirated — ἐπί plus ἵστημι gives ἐφίστημι, κατά plus ἵστημι gives καθίστημι, μετά plus ἵημι gives μεθίημι, ἀπό plus ἱκνέομαι gives ἀφικνέομαι. Third, assimilation: the ν of ἐν and σύν changes to match what follows, giving ἐμβάλλω and συμβάλλω before a labial, ἐγγράφω and συγγράφω before a velar, συλλέγω before λ, and συσκευάζω before σ.
The augment is where compounds catch candidates out, because it goes not at the front of the word but between the prefix and the stem. προσβάλλω gives προσέβαλον, καταβαίνω gives κατέβην, ἀποδίδωμι gives ἀπέδωκα. Where the prefix has elided its vowel, the vowel does not come back: ἀπέρχομαι gives ἀπῆλθον, not ἀποῆλθον. Where the ν of ἐν or σύν has assimilated, it reappears in its original form before the augment: ἐμβάλλω gives ἐνέβαλον and συλλέγω gives συνέλεξα. And a compound of a verb whose simple form already begins with a vowel will show the lengthening inside: παρέχω gives παρεῖχον. A candidate hunting a dictionary for ἐνέβαλον under epsilon will not find it; the entry is ἐμβάλλω.
What the prefixes mean is the other half of the skill. ἀνά is up or back or again; ἀντί is against or in return; ἀπό is away; διά is through or apart or thoroughly; εἰς is into; ἐκ is out; ἐν is in; ἐπί is on or against or in addition; κατά is down or thoroughly; μετά is with or after or expressing change; παρά is alongside or past or contrary to; περί is around or exceedingly; πρό is before or forward; πρός is towards or in addition; σύν is together; ὑπέρ is over or beyond; ὑπό is under or secretly. Several of these are intensive as well as directional, which is why κατά so often means thoroughly rather than downwards: κατακόπτω is cut to pieces, κατεσθίω is eat up.
Finally, know where deduction stops. Some compounds are perfectly transparent: ἐκβάλλω throw out, εἰσέρχομαι enter, προσέρχομαι approach, ἀποθνῄσκω die. Others have become idioms whose meaning cannot be reconstructed from the parts, and the specification's careful phrase where the prefix retains its normal meaning is a fair warning that these must be learned: ἀναγιγνώσκω is read, not know again; κατηγορέω is accuse, not speak down; ἀφίημι is release or let go or permit; ἐπιτίδευμα is a pursuit or practice; ὑπάρχω is exist or be available; συμβαίνει is it happens. Treat a compound as transparent first, translate it that way in your head, and if the result is nonsense in the sentence you are reading, mark it as an idiom and take the meaning from context.
Worked example

Decoding six compound verbs, three transparent and three idiomatic

Constructed teaching Greek, not a quotation: ὁ στρατηγὸς τοὺς στρατιώτας συνέλεξεν καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις προσέβαλεν· οἱ δὲ ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον. ὕστερον δὲ ὁ γραμματεὺς τὰ γεγραμμένα ἀνέγνω, καὶ ὁ ῥήτωρ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ κατηγόρησεν· τούτῳ γὰρ ὑπῆρχε πολλὰ χρήματα. For each compound verb give the prefix, the simple verb, the dictionary form, and the meaning required by the sentence.

  1. 01συνέλεξεν

    The internal ε after συν- is the augment, so remove it and the stem is λεξ-, from λέγω in its sense collect. The prefix appears here as συν- rather than συλ- precisely because the augment intervenes; the dictionary form, with no augment, is συλλέγω with assimilation before the λ. Prefix σύν, together; meaning he collected, he mustered. Transparent.

  2. 02προσέβαλεν

    The augment ε sits after προσ-, and the stem is βαλ-, the strong aorist of βάλλω. Dictionary form προσβάλλω. Prefix πρός, towards; literally throw oneself towards, and in a military context the standard word for attack, with a dative of the thing attacked, which is why τοῖς πολεμίοις is in the dative. Transparent.

  3. 03ἐνέβαλον

    Same stem, different prefix. The ν has reappeared before the augment, which tells you the dictionary form has assimilated it: ἐμβάλλω. Prefix ἐν, in; literally throw in, and with εἰς and an accusative the ordinary idiom for burst into, invade. Transparent, provided you know the construction with εἰς.

  4. 04ἀνέγνω

    Remove the augment after ἀν- and the stem is γνω-, the strong aorist stem of γιγνώσκω. Dictionary form ἀναγιγνώσκω. Built literally the compound would mean know again, and that meaning is not usable here: nobody knows a written document again. This is the first of the idiomatic compounds — ἀναγιγνώσκω means read, and it must be learned. Meaning: he read out.

  5. 05κατηγόρησεν

    The augment is visible in the lengthened η after κατ-, and the stem is ἀγορευ- or ἀγορ-, connected with ἀγορεύω, speak in public. Dictionary form κατηγορέω. Literally speak down against someone; the settled meaning is accuse, and it takes a genitive of the person accused, which explains τοῦ στρατηγοῦ. Idiomatic, but with the prefix's meaning still faintly visible.

  6. 06ὑπῆρχε

    The augment shows as the lengthened η after ὑπ-, so the dictionary form is ὑπάρχω, from ὑπό and ἄρχω. Literally begin under, which is no help. The settled sense is exist, be available, belong to, and with a dative it means the person has something: τούτῳ ὑπῆρχε χρήματα is he had money available. Wholly idiomatic. Note that with a neuter plural subject the verb is singular, exactly as the rule predicts.

  7. 07Ordering the procedure

    In all six cases the same three moves worked: find the augment, which is inside the word, not in front of it; restore the assimilated consonant to recover the dictionary form; then apply the prefix's meaning and test it against the sentence. When the transparent meaning fails the test, as with ἀναγιγνώσκω and ὑπάρχω, stop and take the sense from context rather than forcing the etymology.

Result: The general mustered the soldiers and attacked the enemy; and they burst into the camp. Later the secretary read out what had been written, and the orator accused the general; for he had a great deal of money available. Compounds: συνέλεξεν, σύν plus λέγω, dictionary συλλέγω, mustered; προσέβαλεν, πρός plus βάλλω, προσβάλλω, attacked; ἐνέβαλον, ἐν plus βάλλω, ἐμβάλλω, burst in; ἀνέγνω, ἀνά plus γιγνώσκω, ἀναγιγνώσκω, read; κατηγόρησεν, κατά plus ἀγορεύω, κατηγορέω, accused; ὑπῆρχε, ὑπό plus ἄρχω, ὑπάρχω, was available.

Exam focus

  • A compound verb in an unseen is usually a verb you know with a preposition attached; strip the prefix first, then reapply its meaning to what is left (AO1).
  • Component 02 Section A can ask for the dictionary form of a compound; the expected answer restores the assimilated consonant and removes the internal augment (AO1).
  • In composition, a compound must be built correctly: the augment goes after the prefix and the assimilation must be written (AO1).

Typical mistakes

  • Looking for the augment at the front of a compound and concluding that the form is a present tense.
  • Writing ἐνέβαλον as ἐμέβαλον or ἀπῆλθον as ἀποῆλθον in a composition, by applying the sound rules in the wrong order.
  • Forcing a transparent meaning onto an idiomatic compound: reading ἀναγιγνώσκω as know again rather than read.

Active revision

Take twenty compound verbs from a page of Attic prose. For each, write the prefix, the simple verb, the sound change if any, the transparent meaning built from the parts, and the meaning the sentence actually requires. Mark with a star every case where the two differ — those are the compounds you must learn as vocabulary rather than deduce. Then convert ten of them into the aorist indicative and check that you have put the augment in the right place.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: OCR A Level in Classical Greek (H444) specification, Appendix 5d (Cambridge OCR) · OCR A Level in Classical Greek (H444) specification (Cambridge OCR)

§ 04

Prepositions and the cases they govern#

●●○StandardLPOCR H444 Appendix 5d Accidence — uses of prepositionsLPOCR H444 Appendix 5d Syntax — standard patterns of case usage

Prepositions and the cases they govern

Preposition, genitive, dative, accusativeTable with 4 columns and 17 rows, Data: Preposition · With the genitive · With the dative · With the accusative; ἀνά · — · — · up, up along, throughout, at the rate of; ἀντί · instead of, in return for · — · —; ἀπό · away from, from · — · —; διά · through, by means of · — · on account of, because of; εἰς · — · — · into, to, with a view to; ἐκ, ἐξ · out of, from, as a result of · — · —; ἐν · — · in, among, at, during · —; ἐπί · on, upon, in the time of · on, at, on condition of, in addition to · onto, against, for the purpose of; κατά · down from, against (in accusation) · — · down along, according to, throughout; μετά · with, together with · — · after; παρά · from beside (a person) · beside, at the house of, in the eyes of · to beside, along, contrary to; περί · about, concerning · for, in anxiety for (mainly poetic) · around, approximately; πρό · before, in front of, on behalf of · — · —; πρός · from, on the side of, in the name of · at, near, in addition to · towards, against, in relation to; σύν · — · together with · —; ὑπέρ · over, above, on behalf of · — · beyond, exceeding; ὑπό · by (personal agent), from under · under, beneath · under (with motion), towards (of time), highlighted cell: by (personal agent), from underPREPOSITIONWITH THE GENITIVEWITH THE DATIVEWITH THE ACCUSATIVEἈΝΆ——up, up along, throughout, atthe rate ofἈΝΤΊinstead of, in return for——ἈΠΌaway from, from——ΔΙΆthrough, by means of—on account of, because ofΕἸΣ——into, to, with a view toἘΚ, ἘΞout of, from, as a result of——ἘΝ—in, among, at, during—ἘΠΊon, upon, in the time ofon, at, on condition of, inaddition toonto, against, for thepurpose ofΚΑΤΆdown from, against (inaccusation)—down along, according to,throughoutΜΕΤΆwith, together with—afterΠΑΡΆfrom beside (a person)beside, at the house of, inthe eyes ofto beside, along, contrarytoΠΕΡΊabout, concerningfor, in anxiety for (mainlypoetic)around, approximatelyΠΡΌbefore, in front of, onbehalf of——ΠΡΌΣfrom, on the side of, in thename ofat, near, in addition totowards, against, inrelation toΣΎΝ—together with—ὙΠΈΡover, above, on behalf of—beyond, exceedingὙΠΌby (personal agent), fromunderunder, beneathunder (with motion), towards(of time)
Fig. 2Read the dashes as part of the information: a preposition that takes only one case carries its meaning by itself, while the five that take all three cases carry almost none of it. The emphasised cell is the highest-value entry on the table — ὑπό with the genitive is the ordinary way Greek expresses the agent of a passive verb, and it is examined more often than any other prepositional use.

Key points

Appendix 5d lists uses of prepositions as a separate item of accidence, and the reason is that in Greek the preposition alone does not determine the meaning: the case does. The underlying logic is spatial and it is worth stating once, because it makes most of the table predictable. The genitive is the case of separation and origin, so a preposition with the genitive tends to mean from or out of or down from. The dative is the case of position and rest, so a preposition with the dative tends to mean at or in or on, with no movement. The accusative is the case of extension and goal, so a preposition with the accusative tends to mean towards or along or throughout. ὑπό makes the pattern visible in one word: ὑπὸ τῆς γῆς from under the earth, ὑπὸ τῇ γῇ under the earth, ὑπὸ τὴν γῆν down under the earth.
The prepositions divide into three groups by how many cases they take. Five take only the genitive: ἀντί, ἀπό, ἐκ (ἐξ before a vowel), πρό, and in most prose uses ὑπέρ, though ὑπέρ also appears with the accusative in the sense beyond. Two take only the dative: ἐν and σύν. Two take only the accusative: εἰς and ἀνά. Three take genitive and accusative: διά, κατά, μετά. And five take all three: ἐπί, παρά, περί, πρός, ὑπό. The last group is the one to learn properly, because in those five the case is the whole message. διά shows how much is at stake with only two cases: διὰ τῆς πόλεως is through the city, but διὰ ταῦτα is on account of these things — a spatial sense with the genitive and a causal sense with the accusative, and no other signal to tell them apart.
Three constructions built on prepositions carry a disproportionate share of the marks. The agent of a passive verb is ὑπό with the genitive: ἐνικήθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, they were defeated by the Athenians. Where the agent is an instrument rather than a person, no preposition is used at all and Greek uses a bare dative: τοῖς ὅπλοις, with weapons. And where the verb is a perfect passive, or the construction is a verbal adjective in -τέος, the agent goes into the dative without a preposition: ταῦτα ἡμῖν πέπρακται, this has been done by us. A candidate who translates every dative as to or for will lose all three.
Alongside the true prepositions stands a group of words traditionally called improper prepositions, which govern the genitive and cannot be prefixed to verbs. The common ones are ἄνευ without, ἕνεκα for the sake of, which normally follows its noun, χάριν for the sake of, which always follows, μέχρι and ἄχρι as far as or until, πλήν except, ἐγγύς near, ἔξω outside, εἴσω inside, μεταξύ between, and ὁμοῦ together with. They behave exactly like prepositions in the sentence and are worth knowing as a set because they are common in oratory and in Xenophon alike.
Two idioms complete the picture and both are frequent in narrative. First, motion towards a person is expressed by ὡς with the accusative, not by εἰς or πρός: ἦλθον ὡς βασιλέα, they went to the king; εἰς with a person would be wrong. Second, prepositions are often used in fixed adverbial phrases whose meaning has hardened and must be recognised whole: ἐκ τούτου after this, ἐν τούτῳ meanwhile, διὰ τάχους quickly, ἐπὶ τούτοις on these terms, κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν by land and by sea, παρὰ πολύ by far, πρὸς βίαν by force. In verse a preposition may also stand separated from its verb by other words, a phenomenon called tmesis, and in Homer it may function as a free adverb — both worth recognising when the verse set text is being read.
Worked example

Six phrases in which the case, not the preposition, carries the meaning

Constructed teaching Greek, not a quotation. Translate each phrase or clause and state what the case contributes. (a) διὰ τῆς χώρας ἐπορεύοντο. (b) διὰ ταῦτα ἀπῆλθον. (c) οἱ πολῖται ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἐνικήθησαν. (d) ὑπὸ τῷ δένδρῳ ἐκάθευδεν. (e) ταῦτα ἡμῖν πέπρακται. (f) ἦλθον ὡς βασιλέα περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης.

  1. 01(a) and (b): one preposition, two senses

    In (a) διά governs the genitive χώρας, and the genitive is the case of separation and passage, so the sense is spatial: they were marching through the country. In (b) διά governs the accusative ταῦτα, and with the accusative the same preposition is causal: on account of these things they went away. Nothing but the case distinguishes them, and a candidate who translates through in both produces through these things they went away, which is not English.

  2. 02(c): the personal agent

    ἐνικήθησαν is third person plural aorist indicative passive of νικάω, they were defeated. A passive verb needs its agent, and for a person Greek uses ὑπό with the genitive: ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, by the enemy. If the sentence had said they were defeated by their own weakness, an abstract instrument, Greek would have used the bare dative with no preposition at all.

  3. 03(d): the same preposition, position not agency

    Here ὑπό governs the dative τῷ δένδρῳ, and the dative is the case of position and rest, so the sense is locative: he was sleeping under the tree. The verb ἐκάθευδεν, imperfect of καθεύδω, confirms it — there is no motion in the sentence for the accusative to express and no passive for the genitive to supply an agent to.

  4. 04(e): the dative of agent

    πέπρακται is third person singular perfect indicative passive of πράττω, and the neuter plural subject ταῦτα takes a singular verb as usual. The agent here is ἡμῖν, a bare dative with no preposition, which is the construction Greek uses for the agent of a perfect passive: this has been done by us. Translating ἡμῖν as an indirect object gives this has been done to us, which reverses who acted.

  5. 05(f): two idioms in one clause

    ὡς βασιλέα is the idiom for motion towards a person: εἰς βασιλέα would be wrong Greek. περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης is περί with the genitive, about or concerning, which is by far its commonest prose use — the same preposition with the accusative would mean around the peace in a spatial sense, which is meaningless here. So: they went to the king about the peace.

  6. 06The habit to build

    In all six the procedure is the same and it takes a second: see the preposition, then look at the ending of the noun, then choose the meaning. Reversing that order — choosing the meaning from the preposition and then forcing the noun to fit — is what produces the standard errors in this section.

Result: (a) They were marching through the country — genitive of passage. (b) On account of these things they went away — accusative, causal. (c) The citizens were defeated by the enemy — ὑπό with the genitive, personal agent. (d) He was sleeping under the tree — dative of position. (e) This has been done by us — bare dative of agent with a perfect passive. (f) They went to the king about the peace — ὡς with the accusative for motion to a person, περί with the genitive for the subject of the negotiation.

Exam focus

  • In an unseen, always read the case before deciding what a preposition means; διά, κατά, μετά, ἐπί, παρά, περί, πρός and ὑπό change meaning entirely with the case (AO1).
  • The agent construction is a favourite of grammar questions in Component 02 Section A: ὑπό with the genitive for a personal agent, a bare dative for the instrument, a bare dative for the agent of a perfect passive or of a verbal adjective in -τέος (AO1).
  • In composition, choosing the wrong case after a preposition is a straightforward and avoidable loss of accuracy marks (AO1).

Typical mistakes

  • Translating διά with the accusative as through: with the accusative it is causal, on account of.
  • Using εἰς or πρός for motion towards a person where Greek requires ὡς with the accusative.
  • Rendering the dative of agent after a perfect passive as an indirect object, producing this has been done to us instead of by us.

Active revision

Take a page of Attic prose and list every prepositional phrase on it. For each, write the preposition, the case, the meaning it carries here, and the meaning it would carry with a different case if that preposition takes more than one. Then find every passive verb on the page and state how its agent or instrument is expressed: ὑπό with the genitive, a bare dative, or not expressed at all.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: OCR A Level in Classical Greek (H444) specification, Appendix 5d (Cambridge OCR) · OCR A Level Classical Greek — specification at a glance (Cambridge OCR)

§ 05

Deducing an unknown word, and the exam habits that make it pay#

●●●AdvancedLPOCR H444 Component 01 — accurately translate unseen material into English; there is no Defined Vocabulary ListLPOCR H444 Component 02 — demonstrate a detailed understanding of the linguistic structures of material written by ancient authors, including an understanding of individual words, phrases or sentences

The four questions to ask of an unknown word

Deducing an unfamiliar wordGraph, Unknown word → 1 What form is it?, 1 What form is it? → 2 What is the stem?, 2 What is the stem? → 3 What is attached?, 3 What is attached? → 4 What must it mean here?, Read the accent → 4 What must it mean here?, 4 What must it mean here? → A rendering you can defendUnknown word1 What form isit?2 What is thestem?3 What isattached?4 What must itmean here?Read the accentA rendering youcan defend
Fig. 3The order is the point. Asking what does it mean first produces a guess; asking what form is it first produces a sentence with a correct shape into which a guess can safely be placed. The accent is drawn as a side input to the final question because it settles ambiguities of mood and of word class that the morphology alone leaves open.

Key points

Deduction is a procedure, not an inspiration, and it should be practised until it runs in a fixed order every time. The first question is not what does this word mean but what form is this word, because the ending tells you the part of speech and the grammatical job before you know any meaning at all. A word ending -οντος is a participle in the genitive singular; a word ending -σεως is an action noun of the third declension; a word ending -σθαι is a middle or passive infinitive. Establishing that much means that even if the meaning never arrives you can still write a syntactically correct English sentence with a plausible content word in it, and syntactically correct sentences score.
The second question is what is the stem, and the third is what is bolted on to it. Strip the ending, then strip any prefix, then look at what is left and ask whether you have seen it before in another guise — remembering that the vowel may have shifted, so that a stem in λιπ- may belong to λείπω and one in παθ- to πάσχω. Then reapply the prefix and the suffix in that order. This is the point at which most successful deductions are made, because the great majority of unfamiliar words in an Attic prose passage are familiar roots wearing unfamiliar clothes.
The fourth question is what must it mean here, and it is the one that decides. Context in an unseen is not vague atmosphere: it is a set of hard constraints. The verb's construction constrains its object; a genitive after a comparative must be the thing compared; a word coordinated by καί with a known word is likely to be near it in sense; a word contrasted by ἀλλά or by μέν and δέ with a known word is likely to be opposite to it. Narrative logic constrains too — if an army has been described as exhausted and short of food, the unknown verb in the next clause is more likely to mean they retreated than they celebrated. Write the meaning the sentence demands, and only then check it against the morphology.
The printed accent is a piece of evidence that costs nothing to read and is routinely ignored. It distinguishes τίς from τις and πότε from ποτε, so it tells you whether a clause is a question. It distinguishes the aorist infinitive λῦσαι from the aorist optative λύσαι, so it can settle the mood in reported speech. It distinguishes the relative ὅ from the article ὁ. It marks contracted syllables with a circumflex, so a circumflex where you did not expect one often signals a contract verb. None of this requires the ability to accent a word yourself, which the specification does not ask for; it requires only that you read what is on the page.
The examination habits that make deduction pay are simple and they are about time. Never leave a gap: an omitted word scores nothing, whereas a wrong but plausible word costs only the mark it was worth and leaves the rest of the clause intact. Do not spend more than about fifteen seconds on any single unknown word at first pass; mark it, complete the clause with a placeholder that fits the grammar, and come back. Translate the whole passage before polishing any of it, because the later sentences frequently define the earlier ones. And when you return to a marked word, re-read the whole sentence rather than staring at the word, since it is the sentence and not the word that contains the evidence.
Worked example

Deducing four unknown words in a single sentence

Constructed teaching Greek, not a quotation: οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται, ἀπορούμενοι σίτου, τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ᾐτιῶντο, καὶ τέλος αὐτῶν κατεφρόνησαν, ὥστε ἀταξία τις ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ ἐγένετο. Suppose ἀπορούμενοι, ᾐτιῶντο, κατεφρόνησαν and ἀταξία are all unknown to you. Deduce each in turn using the four questions, then translate.

  1. 01ἀπορούμενοι — question one and two

    The ending -μενοι is a middle or passive participle, nominative plural masculine, agreeing with οἱ στρατιῶται. That much is certain before any meaning. Strip it and the stem is ἀπορου-, which shows the ου of a contract verb in -έω; the underlying present is ἀπορέω, with a middle ἀποροῦμαι. Now strip the initial ἀ- as a privative and what remains is πορ-, the root of πόρος, a way through, a passage, a means. So the word is built as being without-a-way.

  2. 02ἀπορούμενοι — questions three and four

    The privative alpha is confirmed by the adjective ἄπορος, impassable or resourceless, which shares the stem, and the sentence supplies the constraint: the participle governs σίτου, a genitive, and σῖτος is corn or food. A participle meaning being without a way, governing a genitive of the thing lacked, in a sentence about soldiers and food, must mean being at a loss for or running short of. Rendering: being short of food. That is exactly what ἀπορέω means.

  3. 03ᾐτιῶντο

    Form first: the ending -ωντο is third person plural, imperfect, middle or passive, and the ᾐ- at the front is an augmented αἰ-, so the present is αἰτιάομαι, a contract verb in -άω. The stem αἰτι- belongs to αἰτία, a cause or a charge, and αἴτιος, responsible or guilty — words you are likely to know. A middle verb built on a noun meaning charge, governing the accusative τοὺς ἡγεμόνας, must mean they were blaming or accusing the leaders. The context confirms it: hungry troops blame their commanders.

  4. 04κατεφρόνησαν

    The augment sits after the prefix κατ-, so the dictionary form is καταφρονέω. The stem φρον- belongs to φρήν, φρονέω, φρόνιμος — the family of thinking and good sense. κατά in a compound is very often downwards or against. Think down on somebody gives despise, and the genitive αὐτῶν is exactly the case that καταφρονέω governs. Rendering: they came to despise them. Notice that the aorist here is ingressive after the imperfect ᾐτιῶντο: first they kept blaming, then they came to despise.

  5. 05ἀταξία

    A first-declension feminine abstract noun in -ία, so the meaning is a quality or state. Strip the ἀ- as a privative and the stem is ταξ-, from τάσσω, τάξις, the family of arranging and battle-order. A state of not-being-in-order, in a camp, is disorder or indiscipline. τις after it is the enclitic indefinite, softening: a kind of disorder. And ὥστε with the indicative ἐγένετο tells you the result actually happened, rather than being a natural consequence.

  6. 06Assemble and check

    Read the finished sentence back and ask whether it coheres: soldiers short of food blame their leaders, come to despise them, and disorder follows. It does. Every one of the four deductions was generated from morphology and confirmed by a grammatical constraint — a governed genitive, a governed accusative, a second governed genitive, and an abstract-noun suffix — rather than by guesswork about the topic.

Result: The soldiers, being short of food, kept blaming their leaders, and in the end came to despise them, so that a kind of disorder arose in the camp. Deductions: ἀπορούμενοι, present middle participle of ἀπορέω, at a loss for, governing a genitive; ᾐτιῶντο, imperfect middle of αἰτιάομαι, blame, governing an accusative; κατεφρόνησαν, aorist of καταφρονέω, despise, governing a genitive; ἀταξία, abstract noun with alpha privative from τάσσω, disorder.

Exam focus

  • Component 01 Section A is 50 marks earned across a whole passage, so the candidate who finishes with plausible renderings everywhere outscores the one who perfects the first half (AO1).
  • Marks are awarded for sense units; a clause whose structure is right and whose one unknown noun is wrong still earns most of what it is worth (AO1).
  • In Component 02 Section A, a comprehension question about the meaning of a phrase is asking you to demonstrate deduction in public: state the meaning and then the evidence in the passage for it (AO1).

Typical mistakes

  • Leaving a blank where a word was unknown, which guarantees zero, instead of writing the meaning the sentence demands.
  • Working left to right through the sentence and stopping dead at the first unfamiliar word, rather than reading to the verb and building the frame first.
  • Deciding a meaning from an English derivative and then refusing to abandon it when the sentence contradicts it.

Active revision

Take an unseen passage of Attic prose at A-Level standard and mark every word you do not know before translating anything. Then, for each marked word, write down the four answers in order: what form it is, what its stem seems to be, what is attached to it, and what the sentence forces it to mean. Only then look the words up, and score yourself not on how many meanings you got exactly right but on how many of your renderings would have left the surrounding clause intact.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: OCR A Level in Classical Greek (H444) specification (Cambridge OCR) · OCR A Level Classical Greek — specification at a glance (Cambridge OCR)

Contents

Section -- / 05

    • 01No list: how vocabulary is actually acquired on this specification○
    • 02The shape of a Greek word: roots, vowel gradation, suffixes and compounding◐
    • 03Compound verbs and the prepositional prefixes◐
    • 04Prepositions and the cases they govern◐
    • 05Deducing an unknown word, and the exam habits that make it pay●

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Vocabulary and linguistic range

Reinforce this topic with matching tasks from the question bank.

~41
min
3
Competencies
Practise

References & sources

Sources

Cambridge OCR

  • OCR A Level in Classical Greek (H444) specification
  • OCR A Level in Classical Greek (H444) specification, Appendix 5d
  • OCR A Level Classical Greek — specification at a glance

Department for Education

  • GCE AS and A level subject content for ancient languages

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Unseen prose translation (Xenophon)

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