Find the Past Perfect (aka Pluperfect) using Hebrew Const.Searchers

[mtpeterson]

So, I'm new to Accordance and especially construct searches so I looked through the forum and found the post on finding the Greek pluperfect. I've been trying to do the same for Hebrew, but of course there is no past perfect aspect in Hebrew. Instead, past perfects are determined by the structure of the relevant clauses. To this end, I'm using Ziony Zevit's Anterior Construction rule which goes like something this:

 

1. The first predicate clause/verse must be a perfect or a waw consecutive imperfect

2. The second clause must have the subject-verb order reversed (i.e., subject before verb).

3. The subject of the second clause/verse must have the waw prefix.

 

For example, in Genesis 1:1-2, verse 2 is past perfect according to Zevit. Here's the text with the relevant words colored red:

 

  בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ 

...   וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה 

 

 

Note that in these two verses meet the requirements to be past perfect (pluperfect) according to Zevit

 

1. bara is a perfect

2. haaretz is prefixed with the waw

3. haaretz is the subject of, and precedes the verb.

 

I've solved the easy part, i.e., the search below nicely solves rules #2 and #3 above

 

      within     within

   |            | |            | | 

[verb]   [noun]    [particle]

                          [place 1]

 

But I need a way to specify that the verb of the first clause (bara) precedes the predicate of the second clause (verse 2). Moreover, there must be no other verbs between bara and hayta. In this example, the software needs to verfy that the verb in the immediately previous verse is a perfect or waw consecutive.

 

It looks like the INTER option might be the solution, but the instructions are confusing to me. Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Michael

p.s. also, if there is an easier, more direct way of doing this, I'm very willing to try it out.

Edited March 8, 2020 by mtpeterson

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Hi Michael,

 

  I took a quick shot at this.

 

  A couple of things to note. You are trying to find things that, at least in your example, go across verse boundaries. You will need to set the Scope to Chapter. With Scope set to Verse the search below will not find Gen 1-2. Secondly, as you really want to work with Clauses the syntax modules would likely be a good choice here. I have not tried this as a syntax based search but I or someone else could if you are interested.

 

  I have dropped the PLACE 1 as I suspect that it was aimed at placing stuff at the beginning of a clause or sentence and I'm not sure that helps when you have CHAPTER scope.

 

  I have not checked the results for whether the other hits returned actually match you criteria or are FPs, nor have I checked for coverage (FNs) but hopefully this gives you something to work with.

 

Thx

D