searching for question mark (;) in Greek

[Jonna L Schmidt]

 

I am studying Greek, and my teacher is making the point that: when a question begins with μη: the expected answer is 'NO'

 

BUT IN CONTRAST: when a question begins with ου: the expected answer is 'YES'

 

SO, to help get some practice, I wanted to do a search (using the FIELD command) which ends with a question mark.  (NOTE: I realize that the question mark is different in Greek and English).

 

SO: in an English text, one just types .? -- and you are "good to go".  I can not get this work in the Greek texts.

 

NOTE: I think that I did a proper work around (that is one of the great things about Accordance): one way or another, one can get to the goal, but it was a bit clunky. I first did a search with the NASB-95, limiting my range to the New Testament. 

 

THEN: I did a search in which the sentence begins with με.

 

Then I did a "CONTENTS search" -- so I think that I have a good result, but I was wondering.... is there a way (using the Greek text) to search for questions (or other punctuation)?

 

 

negative answer with me.accord

[mgvh]

Remember that in Greek, a question mark is a semicolon, so for a Greek text use    .;

Though it will return quite a few false hits, to find questions starting with μη, you can use     μη <AND> <FOLLOWED BY> .;

 

The best way is to use a construct search if you have the syntax module.

 

 

[Jonna L Schmidt]

Thanks -- I always dread these construct searches, but i will give that I try. 

 

I can see how (in this situation): the construct search would be more accurate

[Louis Lapides]

@mgvh @Jonna L Schmidt  Maybe you can answer my question since you are both answering a similar question that I have, but my question is regarding the English text. I wanted to find every time Jesus asked a question and when others asked Him a question.  I too need some practice, but I am unsure of the search combination I need to use. Some online articles claim He asked 107 questions and others have Him asking over 300 questions. I assume they are not taking into account the synoptic parallels. Anything will help. It's for a research project I am doing. 

[mgvh]

@Louis LapidesThe problem is that it is not always clear in the Hebrew or Greek whether a sentence is a declarative statement or a question. There are some words that clearly indicate a question is intended. There are some contexts where it's clear it must be a question. But there are many instances where it is the choice of the translator to determine what is most likely. E.g., in Mark 1.23, does the unclean spirit say "Did you come to destroy us?" or “You came to destroy us.”

Or, look at Mat 19.4-5. Jesus replies to a question, saying, “Haven’t you read…” and then quotes two passages of Scripture. The NA28 and the CEB take the first quotation as part of the question and the second as an independent explanatory sentence. Most English versions combine the two quotations as part of a single interrogative sentence.

I.e., there can be no "official" number of questions Jesus asked.

 

You can search English versions for:     .?

Limit the search to the gospels.

Check multiple English translations.

[Louis Lapides]

@mgvhThanks for your reply. That search of the English versions was helpful.  I did not know that the period as a symbol asks Accordance to find by the next character which would be the question mark.

 

I'd love to add more control to the quest to narrow it down to times when Jesus asked the questions. If I add a "Preceded By" command and insert the name Jesus, the search would not work in the Sermon on the Mount because Jesus is only mentioned as"He" in Matthew 5:1. But your suggestion helped a lot. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.