An Introduction to the Composition and Analysis of Greek Prose

Very good, but quite advanced.

This is the ideal book to help you learn to write ancient Greek. I first learned Greek with Duff's Elements of New Testament Greek at university, which is also published by Cambridge in a very similar style. While Dickey is dealing primarily with Attic Greek composition in this book, what both books have in common is that there is no absolute need to read and do the exercises alongside an expert teacher guiding you through. This is because, unlike North and Hillard or other reprints from the world of victorian English public school education, they explain themselves clearly throughout and can be easily completed on one's own. It's obvious with these older, much smaller, books that each set of exercises would have come after an introduction from the teacher to provide some context and vocabulary, so trying to do these in isolation can be hellishly boring and often you have no idea if you are on the right track.In Dickey (as the book is bound to become known), each chapter introduces a new grammatical theme (tenses, cases, participles), clearly presents the quirks you need to know about and then gives you an exercise based on the material just presented, with answers for about a third of these at the back. In case you're thinking "but why not answers for all of them?!", there are enough answers given that you know if you're doing it right and then enough additional questions to let you build confidence in your own ability to correct yourself. The exercises are English > Greek for the most part, but each chapter also comes with some excellent selections from Plato, Xenophon and friends to translate back into English, containing real examples of the structures used in that chapter. It is important to mention here that a couple of years of reading in Greek are probably needed to get the most out of the book, as it takes no prisoners in these exercises.This book is more expensive than reprints of North & Hillard but I cannot stress enough how much is gained for a few extra pounds. The greatest of all the advantages offered by the book is the writer, who is at all times intelligent and keenly-attuned to the needs of contemporary Greek learners, having taught Greek at British and Canadian universities for many years. She writes in one clear narrative from the beginning to the end of the book, with no need for constant flipping to a reference grammar and crucially she humanises the act of learning this enchantingly difficult language with by sharing her own difficulties trying to learn it. If she reads her own Amazon reviews, then can I say thank you for reviving my hope of escaping from mediocrity in my ability to write in Greek, knowing there was someone else out there who had found it difficult (but has achieved it) is a huge help!