This module provides drill in random sets of the verb forms available in the database chosen by type of form (rather than by difficulty level as defined by the book). This drill has the added value of the ability to display principal parts, the meaning of the verb, and the paradigm relevant to the form displayed.
The database contains over 1500 verb forms.
To use this module, you must have the free Greek font Athenian installed on your Windows or Macintosh computer.
In the left panel are settings for the drill.
Show Answer After: use the pop-up button to set the number of tries you want to make at the correct answer before the answer is given in full. After each trial, click the Check Answer button on the drill screen, and correct choices will change from black to orange, while incorrect choices will remain black. If your answer is partially correct, then the black will change to light yellow while the correct choice is shown in yellow (for instance, if you identify a form as middle when it is middle-passive, this will be accepted as a correct response, with middle-passive turning yellow and middle turning light yellow). On the last try all answers will be shown.
Use Vocabulary from: the choices are quarters of the book, halves of the book, or the whole book.
Select from: use this to determine what kind of form you wish to be confronted with in the drill. The default setting allows forms of all kinds to appear, but you may pick several narrower categories. NOTE: certain combinations of pool size, vocabulary chapter range, and type of form may produce a message that the criteria are too narrow to produce a pool of the size requested. You may either work with the small pool presented or redefine the criteria to start over.
Pool Size: you may select the size of the random set to be generated, from 15 to 40, with 25 as the default size.
Operation of the drill: when a form is displayed, always decide first whether the form is finite, infinitive, or participle and click on the appropriate label. This choice adjusts the other labels, so that you may then have the proper choices for selection. Only one button in a column can be highlighted at a time, and the buttons in a column are disabled once a correct choice has been verified with the yellow color.
Additional information: buttons allow you to see the first principal part, all the principal parts, or the definition of the verb from which the particular form comes. The paradigm button opens the Paradigms module in a separate screen and loads the particular paradigm that illustrates the current form. The Paradigm module requires that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader or its plug-in installed.
Sometimes a verb form will appear with a numeral following it. This indicates that multiple answers are in theory possible for the verb. So far, the programming for the random drill does not deal with these effectively. The program will recognize only one answer, and will not ask for the other answers. The multiple answers are entered in the database in a hierarchical order. If a form can be both finite and participle or finite and infinitive, then the finite answer is first. If a form can be both indicative and subjunctive or indicative and imperative, the indicative answer is first. If a form can be both present and imperfect, the present is first. If both first person and third person, then the first person is first. The hierarchy is defined by the order of the choices in each column. Thus, it is in theory possible to guess which answer the program wants: for instance, when you see a form in -ousi with the number 2 after it, the participle, not the finite form, is to be identified.