Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek

Rating:
Summary: A good beginners/intermediate guide to greek grammar
Review: 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).

Rating:
Summary: An invaluable resource
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best Greek grammar ever
Review: This short work (only 270 pages) is possibly the best classical Greek grammar ever. It is useful both as a beginner's grammar and as a compact reference. The reference section is very clear and organized. The principal parts of the top 101 irregular verbs are given, followed by even more principal parts! The reference section pages are marked, as are the pages of the short dictionary in the back.

The chapters on constructions are also very clear and enlightening. Each chapter, after the basic grammar, has practice sentences that can be translated using the enclosed dictionary. It is well worth to translate all of the practice sentences, as they are quotes from important Greek authors, many of them memorable. For instance, one of the earliest exercises is a quote from Plato: "Of all the wild beasts a boy is the hardest to manage" (my translation).

This is a very useful and (I expect) enduring work: given the way things are, it will take a century or more before a comparable work appears. The paperback edition is an inexpensive but attractive little book. It is even printed on acid-free paper!