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Basics of Biblical Greek Workbook

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Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek: Grammar has set the standard for biblical Greek grammars. The companion workbook is an essential component to the grammar. The workbook has chapters, which correspond to the grammar. It is basically a workbook, which provides parsing, and translation exercises. Most of the passages are taken from the Gospels, particularly Mark and John.

Mounce has included many helpful suggestions in the preface for studying Greek, which should be followed. The footnotes throughout the workbook also help clarify and explain various grammatical issues, which arise in translation. Reference is often keyed to the grammar. There are also seven review sections placed throughout the workbook, which are helpful for review and for determining how well one is doing. Lastly, there is at the end of every chapter a helpful summary of grammar.

Occasionally Mounce seems to throw in rather difficult translations given the section which it is found in. Thankfully this does not occur to frequently. Another negative is that in the parsing sections there are not enough words to parse. It would have been helpful to at least double or triple the amount of parsing required in the workbook. The more words to parse the better it is to help in recognizing the form of words.

How should this workbook be used? First, the workbook should be treated as a test. One should carefully study the chapters in the grammar before the workbook is completed. The paradigms and vocabulary should be thoroughly memorized along with obtaining a good grasp of the grammar. Then after such study the workbook should be completed. Translation work can be checked using a good English translation. I found the New American Standard most helpful.

The student should also parse all the words in the translations. It would be helpful to develop a system to differentiate between verbals (verbs, participles, infinitives) and nominals (nouns, adjectives, pronouns). For example, I underlined verbs with two lines and nouns with only one line. Color-coding may also be a helpful method. The desire is for the student to recognize the various parts of speech within the clause.

Most of all it is important to recognize the end of this laboring in Greek. The purpose of studying Greek is to learn the original language of the New Testament in order to know the Bible better to know God better. Therefore studying Greek should be an act of worship. Glorify God in your studying!

William Mounce's "Basics of Biblical Greek" grammar is probably the best Greek textbook available. The value of the textbook, outstanding as it is by itself, is enhanced by the quality of the workbook. Almost every chapter in the textbook has corresponding exercises in the workbook.

There's a lot of homework assigned in the workbook for each chapter in the textbook! But it's all worth it. The first part for almost every exercise in the workbook is parsing: declining nouns; parsing verbs. The second is translating selected Greek passages of the Bible into English. After every five chapters or so, there is a review exercise in the workbook testing the material in the chapters just learned.

There is no need to buy an answer key because all the answers to the parsing drills are found in the grammar itself--either in the glossary in the back or in the text of the substantive chapters. For the answers to the translations, any interlinear Greek-English Bible will do or even just an English Bible.

One of the best things about the translation exercises is that they gradually teach you how to do exegesis as you progress through the text. (The second year course--William Mounce's "A Graded Reader of Biblical Greek" and Daniel Wallace's "Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics"--concentrates on exegesis almost exclusively). The copious footnotes give all kinds of interesting theological and etymological tidbits that make translation really fun. This is additional to the sheer joy of being able to translate the Word of God yourself and seeing it in "color" through the Greek text instead of in "black and white" in an English translation.

Both the grammar and workbook are very user-friendly. It is almost as if Prof. Mounce is sitting next to you encouraging and, if necessary, cracking the whip over you. The workbook is a necessary complement to the grammar. I almost did not buy the workbook but am very glad that I did. William Mounce makes learning Greek possible without even having to set foot in a seminary class.

If you are going to learn Koine Greek, it's going to take work. Truly Greek is not easy, but it can be done. This workbook will discipline you as you parse words and make translations. The answers are available on the author's website along with other good information. If you want to learn Greek, I do recommend the book and this workbook as your introductory texts.

William Mounce's "Basics of Biblical Greek" grammar is probably the best Greek textbook available. The value of the textbook, outstanding as it is by itself, is enhanced by the quality of the workbook. Almost every chapter in the textbook has corresponding exercises in the workbook.

There's a lot of homework assigned in the workbook for each chapter in the textbook! But it's all worth it. The first part for almost every exercise in the workbook is parsing: declining nouns; parsing verbs. The second is translating selected Greek passages of the Bible into English. After every five chapters or so, there is a review exercise in the workbook testing the material in the chapters just learned.

There is no need to buy an answer key because all the answers to the parsing drills are found in the grammar itself--either in the glossary in the back or in the text of the substantive chapters. For the answers to the translations, any interlinear Greek-English Bible will do or even just an English Bible.

One of the best things about the translation exercises is that they gradually teach you how to do exegesis as you progress through the text. (The second year course--William Mounce's "Graded Reader of Biblical Greek" and Daniel Wallace's "Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics"--concentrates on exegesis almost exclusively). The copious footnotes give all kinds of interesting theological and etymological tidbits that make translation really fun. This is additional to the sheer joy of being able to translate the Word of God yourself and seeing it in "color" through the Greek text instead of in "black and white" in an English translation.

Both the grammar and workbook are very user-friendly. It is almost as if Prof. Mounce is sitting next to you encouraging and, if necessary, cracking the whip over you. The workbook is a necessary complement to the grammar. I almost did not buy the workbook but am very glad that I did. William Mounce makes learning Greek possible without even having to set foot in a seminary class.

I have only one real gripe with Mounce's grammar: it doesn't have enough (any) examples of real readings. This shortcoming is completely covered by this workbook. Of course, the workbook is almost useless without the grammar - so you need to buy both. This is even explained in the intro to the grammar: The two complement each other, the grammar providing the deductive descriptions of grammar, the workbook providing inductive readings. The two parts together are powerful and compelling.

Thus, the workbook consists primarily of readings - and all from the New Testament. Unlike some grammars, Mounce gives you the NT text right from the beginning. Unfamiliar words are glossed in the text. While this is a little jarring at first, my advice is to get used to it. Even after you graduate from learning Greek (or any language) and move on to "real" readings, you'll come upon lots of unfamiliar words. Even then, it'll be a process to stop reading, look up the word, and figure out how it fits in the sentence. I'm not an expert in Greek, but know Latin reasonably well, and I can tell you that very often I'll have to do this same thing reading "real" Latin texts.

So, I think Mounce's method is to get you used to doing this process right from the beginning. I believe this is a good idea - sometimes I wish my Latin learning had used this method.

By all means, buy the Mounce textbook. It is very well laid-out and approachable for the beginner. However, it is strictly a grammar, and provides no exercises or readings for the learner. This makes it useless unless it is used in conjunction with another reading-based text.

I bought the workbook hoping that it would fill in the gaps and provide meaningful exercises and readings based on the grammar lessons. If you are buying the workbook with the same hope, then I have to warn you that you won't be getting anything like that.

In the workbook. you mainly will be doing two things. First, you will be parsing sets of words by filling in a chart. Second, you will be translating Greek phrases and sentences to English.

Mounce's philosophy seems to be that he is strictly teaching people to translate, and he takes this to an extreme by greatly de-emphasizing English to Greek exercises of any kind, in favor of having you write out various rules, fill in parsing charts and translate bible verses to English. This deceived me into thinking that I had mastered material, when I had really used hunches and educated guesses to squeak by.

As for the material used for the translation exercises, it is almost exclusively bible passages, which is possibly the worst feature of this workbook. Many of these passages will either be known to you (if you have any sort of biblical education) or will have themes or wordings that are very familiar. Once you have figured out a few words and know what the verse is, or what it is likely to say, you will instinctively stop translating the Greek and try to remember what you already know in
English. For instance, what might the verse say that has the word "splinter" (English is given to you for this one word) in it? Guesses anyone?

To make matters worse, many of the verses will really be beyond your capabilities as a beginner. One footnoted hint actually advises you to "rely on your general Bible knowledge".

If you're willing to learn some extra vocabulary and spend a little extra money, you may want to purchase Athenaze (plus workbook) to get what the BBG workbook lacks.

This accessible book is now even more useful for home-learners like me, because the answers are available for download at http://www.teknia.com/index.php?page=product06 . With the ability to monitor one's own work, this is now an excellent resource for independent study. [It should go without saying that if one uses this book in the context of an official course, one should have the instructor's permission to use the answer key!]

Yes, I do agree that Mounce is a great teacher of Greek. His textbook is very well set up and easy to work with. I'm just a little old lady, but am able to grasp everything if I just re-read it often enough. I'm nearing the end of the book, and have used the workbook all the way. It's a good thing to have the exercises, and one thing that makes it actually fun is to recognize the verse you are translating. I ask myself, is this cheating? Well, you do have to know your New Testament for it to work well for you.
But, well, I do have to confess to being rather bored as chapters drag by, always seeing the exact same format for every one. Having studied a number of other languages, and taught French,I am an old enough hand to believe that variety keeps the students coming back for more, and sameness becomes deadening after a while.
There could be some other types of exercises, even crossword puzzles or fill-in-the-blanks or choosing the correct form for a particular sentence.
Or am I still, aged 65, at high school level mentally?
(...)

This workbook gives an added advange to those who use it with the text. It covers every aspect of the principles of Biblical Greek. It gives the student drilling exercises to read review and repeat all the steps to the basics of Greek. It helped me to form a firm foundation in my Greek studies and it will do the same for all who apply its easy to use format.

If you plan on learning Greek with Mounce through the Grammar this workbook is essential. If you are disciplined this self study will help you learn and retain what you read in the grammar. The major draw back is Mounce fails to provide the answers to the workbook... maybe teachers guide is available. Nonetheless, you can check your own work by going back over each chapter. I recommend it.