Customer Reviews

Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek

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3 star:		(3)
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I'm very impressed with this grammar. Morwood makes no claims that he is replacing Smyth's grammar for breadth. Instead, the Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek sets out in a very consise and clear manner various paradigms and rules. I particularly appreciate the VERY good verb section - not only providing paradigms for the regular conjugations and types of verbs, but also giving the principle parts of the 100 most common irregular verbs. For someone (like myself) who can never seem to remember all of the irregular verbs that seem to pop up in translations FAR too often, this grammar will become a favorite resource. My only complaint -- I'm sure that my grammar skills have declined as a result of relying upon this book rather than my memory during translations.

A well set out book of ancient greek grammar. Contains most necessary paradigms, and also a lot about various grammatical constructions. Because of its limited size, it does not go into much detail with the grammar points but for someone starting or continuing on with Ancient Greek (inc NT Greek) this is a very handy reference to have. Also contains some useful appendices and an extremely limited Greek-English, English-Greek dictionary. This book is a lot easier to understand than a lot of the old books, eg. Goodwin, Smyth. Also a lot cheaper here than what I paid for it (although shipping to Oz would have cost a bit).

After many years of just using Smyth's grammar, I decided to take a look at other texts. This is a good book and the author outlines its limitations at the outset. With this text you have the basic tools at your disposal but there is something to be said for the context in which Smyth put things. I am still getting used to the format and those of us who learned Greek the old way may never get used to the absence of more scholarly material and references. No question about the fact that if you have Smyth you will default to it most of the time. But if you are travelling or need a quick and dirty answer, this is the way to go.

I am a student in Classics at the University of Bucharest (Romania), this being my last year of studies. This book has fulfilled my expectations. Being a small book, I can take it with me everywhere, and repeat the Greek grammar. Whenever I translate something from Greek and I have problems with a grammatical form, I look into this easy to search book and I usually find a solution to my problem. Of course, this happens when I don't have time to look into bigger and more profound grammars like the ones written by Smith, Goodwin etc. But, as the author says, this Oxford grammar is based on Smith. I recommend this book especially to those who want to repeat the essentials of the accidence and syntax of Ancient Greek.

it does not contain an answer key to the problems. Morwood sets an nice steady course for the beginning student, but when you want to check your answers to the questions he has at the end of each section, you are left hanging out to dry. That is a sin for any author!

I always wondered why no one had ever produced a Greek Primer to rival Kennedy's Latin Primer: well-laid out;precise and complete. At last they have! This is the first Grammar produced in almost a 100 years and does not dissapoint. the paradigms are well laid out,the finer points of Greek Grammar are demistyfied, and the sections well organized and easy to follow. There are tables of the most common irregular verbs.
There is a brief English Greek, Greek English vocablary, and some exercises, useful, but you should not buy this Grammar for these added features, you should buy it because it is the best intermediate reference grammar available

I found the Grammar of Classical Greek to be very informative as it has continuously shown itself to strengthen both my lexicon and understanding of both ancient and modern Greek, both to which it heavily applies. In fact, it has also shown me how little modern Greek has changed in comparison to Classical Greek. With this in light, I was thoroughly unconvinced by its argument on the pronunciation of the alphabet and the words herein, which have been firmly preserved by the Greek Orthodox Church since St. Ignatius in the mid-1st century, which continues to use Classical Greek as the language for its liturgical services, unaffected by the slight changes in the vulgar which consequently resulted in the Greek spoken today.
Overlooking this shortcoming, the book gave a fantastic insight into the grammar and proper conjugations, even for the irregular verbs and nouns. This tool will be useful to me even after the book starts falling apart from age and use. I would even suggest searching for a hardcover copy of the book...

To those who complain about answers not being given, most if not all exercises come out of original Greek texts (hence what's inside the parenthesis) and can be found on the internet or at a local library.

This textbook is awesome and works great, especially with the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary.Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary

This really is an excellent book for those learning ancient greek. Every English (or American)-speaking student, in the twenty first century, should purchase a copy. Other grammars are useful and have more detail and examples (eg Goodwin or Smyth), but this is a great place to start.

I originally found this in the local library. It was so helpful that I was reluctant to return the book to the library. I purchased my own copy. This is a great value. Topics are clearly and concisely presented.