---
title: Ecclesiastes 10:10 (JPS 1917) — If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put… · tree and pragmatics
description: If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength; but wisdom is profitable to direct. Who acts: iron, one, serpent, wisdom. Ecclesiastes 10:10 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 10:10 · JPS 1917

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If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength; but wisdom is profitable to direct.

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**Who acts:** iron, one, serpent, wisdom · **What happens:** be, not whet, put, direct · **To what, where:** edge

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This is Ecclesiastes 10:10 · 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 (iron, one, serpent, wisdom), 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:197
# text = If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength; but wisdom is profitable to direct.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	blunt	blunt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	advcl	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	one	one	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	whet	whet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
15	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
16	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	21	amod	_	_
21	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	profitable	profitable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	direct	direct	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	csubj	_	_
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | the iron |  |  |  |  | blunt *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **whet** | present · do-support | one | the edge |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **put** | must | serpent |  |  |  | then | to more strength | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | wisdom |  |  |  |  | profitable *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **direct** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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}

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אִם־קֵהָ֣ה הַבַּרְזֶ֗ל וְהוּא֙ לֹא־פָנִ֣ים קִלְקַ֔ל וַחֲיָלִ֖ים יְגַבֵּ֑ר וְיִתְר֥וֹן הַכְשֵׁ֖רחָכְמָֽה׃

[Ecclesiastes 10:10: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.10.10/)

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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:197` 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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