Wallace_Perfect and Pluperfect

Question 1

What is the basic connotation of the perfect and pluperfect

Answer 1

event accomplished in the past with results existing afterward (the perfect has results in the present; the pluperfect has results existing in the past)

Question 2

Why is the perfect tense important?

Answer 2

1. it is used the least frequently, but when it is used there is a deliberate choice by the writer

Question 3

additional note about the perfect and aspect

Answer 3

the perfect tense combines in itself the present and the aorist in that it denotes the continuance of completed action (it is wrong to say that the perfect signifies abiding results; that is the realm of theology not grammar)

Question 4

What are various names given to the perfect/pluperfect aspect?

Answer 4

stative, resultative, completed, perfective-stative, combinative

Question 5

What are the three main groups of the perfect tense use?

Answer 5

1. normative: involves both external and internal aspects (but with one receiving greater emphasis)
2. collapsed: suppress either the internal or external aspect (because of contextual or lexical interference)
3. specialized: detour from normal usage in more pronounced ways (rare)

Question 6

What is the intensive perfect? (aka resultative)

Answer 6

1. used to emphasize the results or present state produced by a past action. (common)
2. does not exclude the notion of a completed act; rather it focuses on the resultant state

Question 7

How should the intensive perfect be translated?

Answer 7

often as a present tense verb (“Your sins are forgiven”)

Question 8

What is the extensive perfect? (aka consummative)

Answer 8

1. used to emphasize the completion of a past action or the process form which a present state emerges (common)
2. emphasis is on the completed even in the past rather than present results (though it does not mean the present results are absent, just not emphasized)

Question 9

How should the extensive perfect be translated?

Answer 9

normally as a present perfect (“I have seen” “the love of God has been poured out”

Question 10

What is the aorist perfect?

Answer 10

1. used as a simple past tense without concern for present consequences (similar to historical present; rare)

Question 11

How to determine if it is an aorist perfect? And how should it be translated?

Answer 11

1. it is based on contextual intrusion
2. the absence of any notion of existing results
   3, Translate as simple past tense (“Moses sent”)

Question 12

What is the perfect with a present force?

Answer 12

1. certain verbs occur frequently (or exclusively) in the perfect tense without the usual aspectual significance (used just as the present tense; common)
2. These verbs have very little distinction between the act and its results

Question 13

What words are commonly perfects with a present force?

Answer 13

οἶδα (over 1/4 of perfects in NT)

ἒστηκα, πέποιθα, μέμνημαι

Question 14

What is the aspectual nuance of the pluperfect?

Answer 14

1. combines the aspects of the aorist (for event) and the imperfect (for the results)
2. it makes no comment about the results existing up to the time of speaking (they may exist or may not) (86 pluperfects in NT)

Question 15

What is the intensive pluperfect? (resultative) And how should it be translated?

Answer 15

1. places the emphasis on the results that existed in past time (common)
2. translate as a simple past tense (“the were weary” “Their city was built…”)

Question 16

How does the intensive pluperfect relate to the aorist and the imperfect?

Answer 16

1. the aorist is not used to indicate a resultant state form the event
2. the imperfect describes the event itself as progressive, while the pluperfect only describes the state resulting from the event as continuing

Question 17

What is the extensive pluperfect? (consummative) And how should it be translated?

Answer 17

1. used to emphasize the completion of an action in past time, without focusing as much on the existing results
2. translated as a past perfect (“the Jews had already agreed”)

Question 18

What is the pluperfect with a simple past force

Answer 18

1. certain verbs occur frequently (or exclusively) in the perfect and pluperfect tenses without the usual aspectual significance
2. This is due to lexical instruction (common)

Question 19

What are common verbs that will be pluperfects with a simple past force? And how should they be translated?

Answer 19

1. most common is ἤδειν (οἶδα)
2. also ἳστημι, εἲωθα, πείθω, παρίστημι
3. translate as simple past tense (“stood” “knew”)

Question 20

How is the perfect diagrammed?

Answer 20

Past / Present / Future

*(—————-)

Question 21

How is the intensive perfect diagrammed?

Answer 21

Past / Present / Future

*(==========)

Question 22

How is the extensive perfect diagrammed?

Answer 22

Past / Present / Future

**(—————-)

Question 23

How is the aorist perfect diagrammed?

Answer 23

Past / Present / Future

*

Question 24

How is the perfect with the present force diagrammed?

Answer 24

Past / Present / Future

——-

Question 25

How is the pluperfect tense diagrammed?

Answer 25

Past / Present

*(———–)

Question 26

How is the intensive pluperfect diagrammed?

Answer 26

Past / Present

*(=======)

Question 27

How is the extensive pluperfect diagrammed?

Answer 27

Past / Present

**(———–)