North and Hillard’s venerable Greek Prose Composition is currently available both from Focus Publishing and from Duckworth. Its longevity gives some indication as to its usefulness as a guide to the art of translating from English into Greek.
Prose composition is now optional in most examinations, both at school and at university, but attaining the top marks on the alternatives is often rather challenging. Furthermore, regular English-Greek translation creates a much more solid grasp of both accidence and syntax than any amount of Greek-English translation, leaving the pupil with a firmer grasp of the language as a whole, a better foundation from which to develop fluency in reading, and the ability to translate from Greek-English with confidence even when unknown words appear.
North and Hillard is not a book suitable for absolute beginners – the ability to form simple Greek sentences is assumed, as is the possession of a reasonable vocabulary. Those who have completed or who are close to completing Wilding’s Greek for Beginners are likely to find it a natural continuation of their studies, as they move towards A-level.
A general vocabulary list is included at the back of the book, supplemented by special vocabulary lists tied in to individual exercises. Appendices include tables of principle parts for irregular verbs, a list of compounds of common verbs (with definitions), and a list of common prose uses of prepositions, in addition to an account of the chief rules for accents, and a list of common particles and their meanings. No tables of accidence are provided, so possession of a good primer of Greek grammar is required for effective use of this volume.
The expository writing is concise – possibly too concise in places – some points may require clarification by a teacher, and grammatical points are reinforced by a vast number of exercises, which consist of both isolated sentences and of full paragraphs, which are to be translated from English into Latin.
A companion Key to Greek Prose Composition is available as a separate volume, and gives model answers for each exercise. This companion is highly recommended as a time-saver for teachers, and as a means of checking answers for those attempting to teach themselves Greek prose composition using North and Hillard.
The subject matter of and vocabulary required for the exercises tends to be of a military nature, making this volume particularly well suited to those with an especial interest in the histories of Thucydides and Xenophon, and the later parts of Herodotus.