---
title: Ecclesiastes 7:8 (JPS 1917) — Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the pat… · tree and pragmatics
description: Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Who acts: end, patient. Ecclesiastes 7:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 7:8 · JPS 1917

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Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

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**Who acts:** end, patient · **What happens:** be

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This is Ecclesiastes 7:8 · JPS 1917 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (end, patient), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:ECC:130
# text = Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
1	Better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	beginning	beginning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	thereof	thereof	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	patient	patient	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	1	conj	_	_
20	than	than	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	proud	proud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the end of a thing than the beginning |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | the patient in spirit |  |  |  |  | than the proud in spirit; good *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

## The Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
ט֛וֹב אַחֲרִ֥ית דָּבָ֖ר מֵֽרֵאשִׁית֑וֹ ט֥וֹב אֶֽרֶךְ־ר֖וּחַ מִגְּבַהּ־רֽוּחַ׃

[Ecclesiastes 7:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.7.8/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ECC:130` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

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