Settings | Multiple Answers | Difficulty Levels
This module provides drill in random sets of declensional forms: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and adjective/pronouns. This drill has the added value of the ability to display dictionary information, the meaning of the word, and the paradigm relevant to the form displayed.
The database contains over 900 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 correct but other identifications are possible, then the black will change to light yellow while the wider choice is shown in yellow (for instance, if you identify a form as nominative when it is both nominative and vocative, this will be accepted as a correct response, with nom./voc. turning yellow and nominative turning light yellow). On the last try all answers will be shown.
Use Vocabulary from Unit to Unit: the numbers from 3 to 42 correspond to Units in the book. The default setting allows nouns, adjectives, and pronouns learned in any unit, but you may use these settings to narrow the range of vocabulary appearing in the random set.
Difficulty Level from Unit to Unit: the numbers from 3 to 42 correspond to Units in the book in which various kinds of declension are learned. The default setting allows forms of all kinds to appear, but you may limit the range of forms by narrowing the range. To understand the meaning of the difficulty levels by unit number, see the list below.
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: first pick one button in the top row (Form Type), and then make selections in each of the five rows of the main table. 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.
The Choices on the drill screen: the choice for FORM TYPE is among nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and adjective/pronouns (by which are meant words like the article and the demonstratives that can be used both pronominally and adjectivally). For CASE, in the choice nom/acc/voc, voc is taken as an optional element, so that it applies both to neuter nouns that have identical nominative, accusative, and vocative and to neuter pronominal forms that have identical nominative and accusative but naturally have no vocative. Again for GENDER, the drill will accept a correct single answer as well as the applicable multiple answer (for instance, if m/f/n is correct than m or f or n alone will be accepted). For DECLENSION, use the answer Other Decl. for all pronominal declensions and for any mixed declensions, the Attic declension, and contract declensions. For GENITIVE, the correct answer is the genitive ending of a noun or the masculine genitive ending for a pronoun or adjective. Use Other Gen. as the answer if the genitive form is plural only.
Note on Duals: for variety, a few dual forms have been included in the exercises that are additional to the ones printed in the book. But answers involving the dual have been ignored when the same form has a correct answer for singular or plural. For instance, mrei is recognized by the program solely as dative singular and not as nom/acc/(voc) dual, and kak is recognized as nom/acc/(voc) plural neuter and not as nom/acc/(voc) dual feminine.
Additional information: buttons allow you to see the dictionary form (the lemma under which this word would be found), the dictionary information (lemma plus additional needed information), or the definition of the word 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 declensional form will appear with a numeral following it. This indicates that multiple answers are possible for the form. 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 singular and plural or masculine and neuter, then the singular or the masculine answer should be given first. The hierarchy is defined by the order of the choices in each column.
The data set allows classification of each form by its difficulty level, based on its position in the sequence of learning in the book. Here is a listing of the difficulty levels for declensions:
3 o-declension
4 a-declension long-vowel feminine
5 a-declension short-vowel and masculine
6 article
7 vowel decl. adjectives with 3 endings
9 vowel decl. adjectives with 2 endings
12 relative pronoun
13 demonstratives
14 consonant declension: plosive stems
15 consonant declension: liquid, nasal, irregular rho stems, sigma stems; interrogative tis
17 indefinite tis
21 consonant declension: i and u stems, eu, au, ou stems; irregular (gunh, xeir, uios; pronoun autos
22 consonant adjectives; personal pronouns
25 adjectives polus, megas; numerals 1-4, oudeis, mhdeis; reflexive pronouns, reciprocal pronoun
30 comparatives in -wn, -iwn
33 indirect interrogative/indefinite relative
36 toioutos, tosoutos
42 contract and Attic declension and declension with omega