MATSEC AM Greek common mistakes
MATSEC AM Greek · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Translating Greek particles and connectives as if each had one fixed English equivalent, so that μέν is always 'on the one hand', δέ always 'but', γάρ always 'for', and οὖν always 'therefore', producing stilted or logically wrong English.
Candidates memorise vocabulary lists with single glosses and never learn that particles mark discourse relations (contrast, transition, inference, emphasis) whose English realisation depends on context; they also fear leaving a word untranslated.
What to do instead
Build a particle chart organised by function rather than by gloss: contrast (μέν...δέ), causal (γάρ, οὖν), adversative (ἀλλά, δέ), inferential (ἄρα, δή). Practise rewriting ten Greek sentences containing particles into idiomatic English, then back-translate to check that the logical relation survives. Accept that some particles are best rendered by word order or punctuation in English.
Rendering Greek definite articles as English 'the' every time, including in generic, possessive, and predicative constructions, and omitting them where Greek uses none but English requires one.
The article is taught early as 'the', and candidates treat it as a mechanical one-to-one mapping rather than as a marker of definiteness, possession, or syntactic role (e.g. ὁ αὐτός, article with abstract nouns, article in predicate position).
What to do instead
Work through a set of contrasting pairs: οἱ ἄνθρωποι ('humanity/mankind' vs 'the men'), τὸν ἐμὸν πατέρα ('my father', not 'the my father'), ἀγαθὸς ὁ ἀνήρ ('the man is good'). For each, state in one sentence why English needs or omits the article. Include article-plus-infinitive and article-plus-adverb constructions (τὸ καλόν, οἱ τότε) in the drill.
Handling indirect statement by translating ὅτι or ὡς clauses word-for-word with 'that' while leaving the infinitive construction (accusative plus infinitive) as a literal 'that' clause or, worse, misidentifying the accusative as the object of the main verb.
English uses 'that' clauses almost exclusively, so candidates default to a literal rendering and do not internalise that Greek infinitive clauses require a subject in the accusative and tense relative to the main verb (present = same time, aorist = earlier, future = later).
What to do instead
Drill the three tense relations explicitly: λέγει τὸν παῖδα γράφειν / γράψαι / γράψειν, translating each and labelling the time relation. Then practise converting between ὅτι clauses and accusative-plus-infinitive in both directions. Always identify the accusative's function (subject of the infinitive) before translating.
Translating a set text passage as an isolated sentence-by-sentence exercise, ignoring book divisions, speeches, and narrative frames, so that the candidate cannot say who is speaking, to whom, or why the passage matters in the work as a whole.
Revision is done passage-by-passage with vocabulary lists; candidates learn glosses for the prescribed lines but never build a mental map of the plot, the rhetorical structure, or the passage's place in the author's argument.
What to do instead
Make a one-page structural outline of each set text: book, episode, speaker, audience, and function. For every prescribed passage, write three sentences: what happens immediately before, what the passage does in the work, and what follows. Test yourself by covering the Greek and summarising the passage from the outline alone.
Commenting on a set text only by paraphrasing its content ('Odysseus is brave and clever') without quoting or pointing to specific Greek words, formulae, or stylistic features that produce the effect.
Candidates treat literary questions as comprehension questions and lack a vocabulary for stylistic analysis (Homeric formulae, ring composition, tragic irony, rhetorical antithesis, historiographic authorial comment).
What to do instead
For each set text, prepare a bank of eight to ten short Greek quotations with a named technique and a one-line effect for each (e.g. a repeated epithet, a gnomic statement, a messenger speech, an antithetical pair). In practice answers, always anchor a claim to a quotation and explain the effect of the wording, not just the plot.
Writing prose composition by translating an English sentence word-by-word into Greek, keeping English word order and using only the constructions already familiar, so that subordinate clauses, participles, and particles are avoided or misused.
Candidates compose from English syntax inward rather than from Greek patterns outward, and they avoid constructions they are unsure of, producing simple but unidiomatic Greek that loses marks for style and range.
What to do instead
Learn composition by imitation: take a model sentence from a set prose author, identify its skeleton (main clause, subordinate clause, participle phrase), then substitute new vocabulary into the same skeleton. Keep a personal list of five or six reliable Greek sentence patterns (e.g. participle in the genitive absolute, ὡς with future participle of purpose, conditional with εἰ plus optative) and deliberately use at least three per composition.
Leaving participle and genitive-absolute constructions grammatically unattached in English, producing sentences such as 'Having said this, the army was dismissed' where the participle's subject differs from the main clause subject.
Greek participles agree with a noun in case and number, but candidates translate the participle first and then the main clause without checking that the implied English subject matches, because English has no case marking to warn them.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed procedure: identify the participle's noun (case, number, gender), decide whether it is attributive or circumstantial, then choose an English rendering (relative clause, 'when/because/although' clause, or coordinated verb) that names the correct subject. Practise ten sentences with genitive absolutes whose subject differs from the main verb's subject.
Answering comprehension questions in loose paraphrase that captures the general sense but misses the specific detail the question targets (numbers, names, causal links, speaker's intention), or importing outside mythological knowledge instead of what the Greek says.
Candidates read for gist under time pressure and rely on prior knowledge of the myth or history, which feels safer than close reading of unfamiliar vocabulary.
What to do instead
Underline the exact Greek phrase that answers each question before writing anything, and quote or closely render it. Where a question asks 'why', locate the causal marker (γάρ, διότι, ἐπεί) in the text. Practise on unseen passages by writing answers that each contain one quoted Greek word plus its translation.
Treating Greek civilisation topics as a list of isolated facts (dates, institutions, names) and writing answers that recite them without connecting them to evidence from primary sources or to the question asked.
Revision guides and timelines encourage fact-recall, and candidates do not practise using literary, epigraphic, or archaeological evidence as support for an argument about Athenian democracy, religion, or the symposium.
What to do instead
For each civilisation topic, prepare a two-column sheet: 'claim' and 'evidence' (a named source, a passage, an inscription, a vase or building). Practise essay plans that begin from the question's wording, state a position, and support it with at least three pieces of named evidence, including one that complicates the position.
Confusing Greek and Roman institutions and chronology, for example attributing the Roman clientela or the principate to Greece, or placing fifth-century Athenian institutions in the Hellenistic period.
Many candidates study classical civilisation broadly and carry over Roman vocabulary and period labels; the Greek syllabus assumes a chronological frame that is rarely tested explicitly.
What to do instead
Build a dated spine for the period covered (archaic, classical, Hellenistic) with the key Athenian and Spartan institutions attached to it, and a short list of 'Greek only' versus 'Roman only' terms (e.g. ekklesia, boule, ostraca versus comitia, consul, patronus). Check every fact-recall answer against that spine before writing.