---
title: bless — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «bless» in the Early Modern English dictionary: To ask God to protect someone or bring them good. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# bless

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**Who acts:** LORD, you, he, Balak, Neither · **What happens:** ask, protect, bring, bless, keep, not do · **To what, where:** God, someone, them, thee, honey, dat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«bless» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [bless in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/bless.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To ask God to protect someone or bring them good.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:bless:m1:1
# text = To ask God to protect someone or bring them good.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obj	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive |  |  | God |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent god=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **protect** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  | someone |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent someone=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **bring** | infinitive |  | them *= they* |  |  |  | good *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee;

<!-- .note -->
From Torah NUM.6.24, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:bless:x1:1
# text = The LORD bless thee, and keep thee;
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	bless	bless	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
8	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bless** | infinitive | the LORD | thee |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** | infinitive | the LORD *not said here* | thee |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Bless gracious, honey, dat he didn't.

<!-- .note -->
From Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:bless:x2:1
# text = "Bless gracious, honey, dat he didn't.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Bless	bless	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	gracious	gracious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	honey	honey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	dat	dat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bless** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | honey |  |  |  | gracious *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent honey=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | past | he | dat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dat=Eventuality |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.'

<!-- .note -->
From Torah NUM.23.25, JPS 1917.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:bless:x3:1
# text = And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Balak	Balak	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Balaam	Balaam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	nsubj	_	_
9	curse	curse	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	15	cc	_	_
15	bless	bless	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Balak |  |  |  |  | unto Balaam | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **curse** | present | Neither | them *= they* |  | all |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 3 | **bless** | infinitive | Neither *not said here* | them *= they* |  | all |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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