Search for a word at the beg. of clause

[ryangeer]

Is there way to search for a word only when it begins a clause?

[Helen Brown]

Set the Field pop-up menu to clause and your search to word [WITHIN 1 words] [FIELD Begin].

[ryangeer]

Is this only available in English texts? I'm guessing I can't do this search in the BHS...

[Helen Brown]

Until we have a syntactical database for the BHS, no clauses are defined, so you cannot set the field to clause, nor search for a field begin or end of a clause. I don't think that database will be too long in coming.

[ryangeer]

excellent, thanks. a commentator to which i am referring made a stmt about expecting a certain particle at the beginning of a clause and i wanted to verify what seemed like a pretty blanket stmt...

[Joe Weaks]

Is this only available in English texts? I'm guessing I can't do this search in the BHS...

Keep in mind, also, that while the 'clause' field option is available for searching in Greek texts, they are really just approximations (=guesses) using the provided punctuation. Look at Matt 1:19 as an example:

Matt. 1:19 Ἰωσὴφ δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς, δίκαιος ὢν καὶ μὴ θέλων αὐτὴν δειγματίσαι, ἐβουλήθη λάθρᾳ ἀπολῦσαι αὐτήν.

 

A search in the GNT for:

"ιωσηφ" <AND> "ἐβουλήθη"

with the field set to 'Clause' won't find this bit in Mat 1:19 about Joseph wishing to dismiss his life partner secretly, because there's a comma-separated phrase in the middle of the clause.

The feature is still useful, but you need to understand what you are and aren't getting. The arrival of a syntax database will help.

[Joe Weaks]

Someone asked, so yes, "Joseph" is the subject of the clause, and "wished" is the verb of the same clause.

 

In this diagram, seeing the subordinate phrases removed below, the clause's structure is quite simple: