Verb Drill module: random sets
(html/javascript version)

Settings | Multiple Answers | Difficulty Levels

This module provides drill in random sets of the verb forms available in the database. 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 one of the specified polytonic unicode fonts (such as the free Greek font New Athena Unicode) 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 Unit to Unit: the numbers from 8 to 41-42 correspond to Units in the book. The default setting allows forms from verbs 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 8 to 41 correspond to Units in the book in which various kinds of verb conjugation 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: 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.

MULTIPLE ANSWERS

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.

DIFFICULTY LEVELS

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:

8 omega-verbs present active indication
9 omega-verbs present active infinitive
10 present indicative and infinitive of eimi (be)
11 omega-verbs present middle-passive indicative and infinitive
13 e-contract-verbs present indicative and infinitive (active and m/p)
16 omega-verbs and e-contract-verbs imperfect (active and m/p), and imperfect of eimi
18 omega-futures and e-contract-futures (indicative and infinitive, active and middle), and future of eimi
19 strong and weak aorists active and middle indicative and infinitive
20 present and imperfect of fhmi
23 mi-verb present indicative, infinitive, imperfect (active and m/p)
24 mi-verb aorist indicative and infinitive (active and middle)
26 participles except a-contract or o-contract present, aorist passive, and perfect active and m/p
28 oida
29 a-contract and o-contract verbs present indicative, infinitive, participle and imperfect; future with a-contraction
31 subjunctive except perfect
32 omega-verb and mi-verb optative except perfect
33 present optative of contract verbs; future optative of e-contract and a-contract type
35 all aorist passive and future passive except imperative
37 all perfects except imperative
40 all imperatives
41 pluperfect and future perfect, and athematic perfect