CHOICE OF DRILLS
The panel on the left offers four kinds of drill, with two or three variations for each type.
In the BY UNITS drills, the verbs are grouped by the units in the book and given in the order in which they are printed in the Vocabulary section of each unit. In the RANDOM SETS drills, the set for a drill is created at random from all the verbs in either the entire book or in any quarter of the book. In the ALPHABETIC and VERB-TYPE SETS drill, the set for a drill is either any tenth of the entire alphabetically ordered list of verbs taught in the book (almost 270) or a set of verbs from a particular class (such as velar plosive verbs or vowel verbs or contract verbs). (For the CHALLENGE PAIRS drills, see below.)
For the three types just described, the user has the choice of drilling on all six principal parts, on only the first three, or on any two. These options are useful for different learning styles or to suit the requirements of different instructors.
The drill will not ask for a blank principal part. For instance, if a verb has no aorist active or middle (because it is a passive deponent), then when the future principal part is displayed, a dash will appear in the aorist active or middle position, showing that the next principal part to be supplied is the perfect active. In the drills for only two parts, this may mean that the user simply has to go on to the next item.
SETTINGS
Most of the settings are in the main panel, above the grid for the principal parts.
From Unit … to Unit: for By Units drills only. The numbers from 5 to 41 correspond to Units in the book in which verbs are assigned in the Vocabulary. The user may select just one unit or a range consisting of several consecutive units.
Choose the range …: for the Random Sets drills only. Use the popup to select the larger set from which the drill set will be created: the entire pool or any quarter of the pool (by the order in which the verbs are taught in the book).
Pick the size … : for the Random Sets drills and Challenge Pairs drills. The user selects how many words to be presented with in the random set that is generated from the larger range selected.
Choose the set … : for the Alphabetic and Verb-Types Sets drills only. The user selects which tenth of the alphabetical list of verbs to use, or chooses among the types.
Show meaning: this checkbox in the left panel determines whether or not the definition of the verb is displayed when the last principal part is shown. This display may reinforce the association of English meaning with the Greek forms, but for some users or in some circumstances it may be distracting. Hence it can be toggled on or off.
BUTTONS
Start Drill: use this button to begin the drill after making any change in the settings that determine the pool. (The user can change the option to show or suppress the definition at any time without resetting the pool.) When presented with the first form, try to think of the correct form that should appear in the next position. Then continue with the Next Action Button.
Next Action: use this button to reveal the next principal part. Pause to think of what should appear in the next slot, and then repeat Next Action. When all the principal parts have been displayed, this button brings on the next item.
CHALLENGE PAIRS
This drill is designed to provide a challenge similar to what one faces in meeting a new verb in a Greek text. Can one figure out which principal part is the basis of the form in front of one? What might the first principal part be, so that one can look up its meaning in the dictionary?
For this drill the user has a choice of drawing upon all the verbs in the book or any quarter of the set (as for the RANDOM SETS drills). Likewise, the size of the pool to be tested may be selected. The checkbox “Use only the first three principal parts” allows the user the same sort of flexibility provided by the choice between a 3-parts and a 6-parts drill in the other modes. In the First PP version of this drill, the user can use the second checkbox to conceal the name of the principal part on the left until the present principal part on the right is revealed (using the Next Action button). There is the usual checkbox in the left panel for showing or not showing the meaning.