Searching for unarticulated forms

[mortenjensen]

Hi all,

I would like to find all unarticulated forms of "euaggelion" in NT and need help to understand, what the difference is between:

- ευαγγελιον <NOT> <PRECEDED BY> [ARTICLE]

- ευαγγελιον <NOT> <PRECEDED BY> [ARTICLE neuter singular]

 

Why does the first search only produce Rom 1:1 and Rev 14:6, while the second produces more (also 2 Cor 11:4 and Gal 1:6)?

As I understand it, should it not be the other way round since I limit my search by defining the article. Why are these two instances not found with the first search?

 

One further question: is Accordance programmed to know which article goes with which noun? If you do the following search: ευαγγελιον <NOT> <WITHIN 1 Words> [ARTICLE] - you also get two instances, where something is inserted between the article and the noun (2 Cor 11:7 and 1 Pet 4:17) and therefore not unarticulated after all.

 

How is accordance able to filter those out with the ευαγγελιον <NOT> <PRECEDED BY> [ARTICLE neuter singular]-search, since the article is not preceding the noun directly?

 

Thanks for clarifying.

 

Morten

[mbcvida]

The first search is asking for results where ευαγγελιον is not preceded in the verse by any article - thus the results show such

The second search is asking for results where ευαγγελιον is not preceded in the verse by any article that is neuter singular, thus the results include verses where ευαγγελιον is preceded by articles that are not neuter singular - thus the second search includes 2 Cor 11.4, which contains the article ο with ερχομενος and Gal 1.6 which contains the article του with καλεσαντος - neither article being neuter singular.

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Hey Morten,

 

  The reason that the ART neut sing query produces two more results is because 2 Cor 11:4 and Gal 1:6 both contain an article before ευαγγελιον but the articles are not neuter singular. The reason it's this way round and not the opposite is the NOT. The first query requires that ευαγγελιον not be preceded by any article at all in the same verse (if verse is your search scope which I'm guessing it is). The second only that it not be preceded by a neuter singular one.

 

  The WITHIN words query actually gets more results because there are articles preceding ευαγγελιον by more than 1 word in the same verse. It's not hat Accordance knows the article and noun go together (which I believe it does not know), just simply a result of the search scope and your query.

 

  The answer to your last query is important. This is related to search scope. By default your scope is probably verse. That means that each verse is searched for your criteria.  So you are really searching for verses containing ευαγγελιον but not containing an article in the neuter singular between the start of the verse and the point where ευαγγελιον is found.

 

Thx

D

[mortenjensen]

Thanks, Dick,

 

So: <PRECEDED BY> searches the entire verse?

 

In this case, then my two first searches are not the correct ones to use - even though the second one (ευαγγελιον <NOT> <PRECEDED BY> [ARTICLE neuter singular]) produces the right result! 

Right? I mean, it could easily have been the case that a verse with an anathrous "euaggelion" was preceded by an article in neutrum for another noun. This was simply pure luck, then.

 

The "right" search must be: ευαγγελιον <NOT>  <PRECEDED BY> <WITHIN 1 Words> [ARTICLE] (demands manual pruning) 

Or perhaps: ευαγγελιον <NOT>  <PRECEDED BY> <WITHIN 2 Words> [ARTICLE]

 

Right?

 

Morten

[mortenjensen]

Thanks D,

 

Yes: the real issue here is the default scope of a "proceded by"-search. If the scope is verse always, I need to qualify the search with a "within"-command. Right?

 

Morten

[Λύχνις Δαν]

I think so yes. Strictly the scope applies to all searches. I am a database guy by profession, so I think of the scope as a row. If the scope is a chapter the one row is a chapter, if verse then one row is a verse. Then when the search is processed, each row is considered in isolation as it were and the criteria applied. If you changed your scope to chapter I suspect you would get no hits at all, as there is bound to be an article somewhere before ευαγγελιον.

 

So for your particular query proximity must be specified. You pretty much cannot avoid a WITHIN. If you have the syntax module you should be able to do this so that a clause contains ευαγγελιον and that it is not preceded by a neuter singular article. That will give you slightly finer scope, but requires that you have the Greek syntax module.

 

Finally, pretty much any query beyond the trivial will produce results that need some pruning.

 

Thx

D

Edited April 28, 2015 by Daniel Semler

[mbcvida]

Here is a suggestion:

ευαγγελιον <NOT> <PRECEDED BY> <WITHIN 4 Words> [ARTICLE neuter] 

 

Results in 4 passages

 

The syntax module does not yet cover all NT books so you cannot perform a complete search covering all NT books

[mortenjensen]

Thanks, I do have the syntax module; although it does not cover all books, what would the search string look like?

[Ken Simpson]

For this I would use a construct search. They really are quite simple once learnt...

 

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Yep I think that's best. What I hoped to achieve with the syntax stuff is hampered by the fact that there are a number of cases where the το preceding the ευαγγελιον and the ευαγγελιον itself start phrases, the latter nested inside the first. The consequence is that you end up finding the inner phrase rather defeating the purpose. It does find the examples you want, where there is coverage but you would then have weed out the other cases complication things far more in the process.

 

Thx

D

[mortenjensen]

Thanks, Ken, that way is great to. Compared to  ευαγγελιον <NOT> <PRECEDED BY> <WITHIN 3 Words> [ARTICLE neuter singular] - is the only difference not that you this way are able to relate the noun and the article by gender, case, number? Theoretically, that would prove more robust in other searches, when it in this case makes no difference. Right?

Morten 

[Ken Simpson]

Morton, yes you are correct. But it is often simpler to understand the logic of a search graphically. It’s a neat way of doing very complicated searches.