The order of words in a Greek sentence is much freer and less predictable than in most European languages. The author explains and illustrates the principles which govern word order in Greek. He finds three: the tendency of certain words to take a constant position; certain types of logical relation between the sentence and its context; and the tendency to adhere to familiar patterns. His three main chapters discuss word order dictated by lexical or semantic, by syntactical, and by logical determinants.