neuter?

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Lavrentivs
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neuter?

Post by Lavrentivs »

from the key to North's Prose Composition 7.9:

ὁ σῖτος [or, τὰ σῖτα] καὶ ὁ οἶνος εἰσι χρήσιμα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις.

Why not χρήσιμοι? Is the thought that they are useful things? The English: "Corn and wine are useful to men."

NateD26
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Re: neuter?

Post by NateD26 »

Shouldn't it then be ἐστι χρήσιμα?
Nate.

Lavrentivs
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Re: neuter?

Post by Lavrentivs »

The subjects would be masculine even though the prædicate were neutral.

NateD26
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Re: neuter?

Post by NateD26 »

Lavrentivs wrote:The subjects would be masculine even though the prædicate were neutral.
Indeed. I initially confused between the subject and predicate.
In any case, you've answered your question. No reason to use the masculine here
for the predicate noun. While the subject grammatical gender is masculine, they're neuter
in meaning and would be better described with a neuter predicate.
Nate.

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