Parsing and Formatting

Parsing

Ok, so what in the world is parsing? It sounds super intimidating, and to be perfectly honest, it is really intimidating! Even after 3 years of Greek I still get nervous when I look at a parsing box on a test! Here is what it looks like:

Taken from Bill Mounce: http://doxa.billmounce.com/bbg3_answers.pdf

What is going on in this picture? It is actually relatively simple at the core!

• The first box is telling you what word is being examined.
• Person of the word (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) or the case of the word (if you don’t know what cases are, don’t worry. Neither do I.) After that is the
• Number (plural or singular) f
• tense (past, present, future, etc) or the gender.
• Voice (active or passive) and the
• Mood.
• Lexical Form (how it appears in the dictionary)
• Inflected meaning. Inflected meaning is the box where we determine how the word should be translated in light of the details that we just looked at.

Formatting

The articles here are going to follow almost the identical format as is listed above. In order to fully parse an issue, we must look at all of the different categories that are part of parsing.

1. Person / Case – This is going to introduce the personal issue, or the case that we will be examining during the article.
2. Number – How many people does this issue affect and why? Or will it impact other people as well such as family members, others in class, etc.
3. Gender – Is this something that applies to both men and women? Or is it specific to one only?
4. Tense – When is this issue taking place? Past, present, or future. And where are the impacts taking place?
5. Mood – How will this affect the mood of the person or people who are involved?
6. Voice – Who is currently speaking about this issue? Who should have a voice that doesn’t? Who has a voice that needs to be speaking about the issue.
7. Lexical Form – what is the purest form of this topic? How would it appear if it were to show up in a dictionary?
8. Inflected Meaning – In light of all of the information that we just looked at, how should a seminary student view this topic? How do all of these individual pieces of information inform us and speak to the larger context of seminary?

I can’t wait to start parsing issues with you!