As a doctoral candidate in classical philology, I strongly urge all serious Greek students to obtain this priceless book - one of the cheapest of the essential shelf of books for the classical scholar. No work comes close. This volume makes Smyth's monumental Greek grammar look childish on the subject of treatment of subordinate clauses in indirect discourse.

If you've gotten this far, then you know Moods and Tenses is a must-have. The question is: should I buy the William H. Allen edition now, or trust to luck in finding one in a used bookstore? The answer is: buy now. Get two. The quality of the printing, paper, and binding is first-rate. At $26, the book is severely underpriced. With the demise of classical education, it might never be this available again.

When I first tried to work through Goodwin's Grammar in learning ancient Greek, I was astounded at the sheer impenetrability of his system. It took me at least two weeks to find the verb "to be"! But once you get the hang of it, there's nothing like it for systematicity, thoroughness, and detail. Next to the LSJ lexicon, it's the most important volume for any student of classical Greek.

Like the reviewer below, it took me some time to get the hang of using this book--and I agree also that it was worth the effort. _Greek Grammar_ is not a textbook, and it is definitely not a good place to start if you are teaching yourself. Like other nineteenth-century grammars (Gildersleeve's Latin grammar, for example, also highly recommended), this work starts from the assumption that you already know the basics. Once you've got a fair grounding in accidence (inflections, etc.) and can read a little prose, however, you are bound to start wondering "why" about all those rules. That's where Goodwin comes in. Thorough, systematic, carefully cross-referenced with plenty of examples (all translated), this is a veritable encyclopedia of classical Greek. It demands careful study, but it repays you for it handsomely. The only two provisos I have are that the print is very fine and may be hard on tired eyes, and that some of the terminology may differ from that used in modern texts (e.g., Gavin & Betts "strong aorist" vs. Goodwin "2nd aorist"). I bought my copy when I was just starting Greek, and it sat on my shelf untouched for over a year. Now, however, I use it all the time.