---
title: Ecclesiastes 2:15 (JPS 1917) — Then said I in my heart: 'As it happeneth to the fool, so will it ha… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said I in my heart: 'As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?' Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. Who acts: I, it, this. Ecclesiastes 2:15 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 2:15 · JPS 1917

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Then said I in my heart: 'As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?' Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

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**Who acts:** I, it, this · **What happens:** say, happen, be · **To what, where:** heart, me, vanity · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Ecclesiastes 2:15 · 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 (I, it, this), 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:33
# text = Then said I in my heart: 'As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?' Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	_
9	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	happeneth	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
20	even	even	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
25	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
29	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	30	advmod	_	_
30	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	conj	_	_
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
32	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
33	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	35	advmod	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
41	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	44	nsubj	_	_
42	also	also	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
43	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
44	vanity	vanity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	ccomp	_	_
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=decl, act=narrate, indirect=0, voice=narrator

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  | my heart | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **happen** | present | it |  |  |  |  | to the fool | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **happen** | future | it |  | me |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  | then | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  | my heart | then |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in heart=Manner |
| 6 | **is a** | present | this | vanity |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
וְאָמַ֨רְתִּֽי אֲנִ֜י בְּלִבִּ֗י כְּמִקְרֵ֤ה הַכְּסִיל֙ גַּם־אֲנִ֣י יִקְרֵ֔נִי וְלָ֧מָּה חָכַ֛מְתִּי אֲנִ֖י אָ֣ז יוֹתֵ֑ר וְדִבַּ֣רְתִּי בְלִבִּ֔י שֶׁגַּם־זֶ֖ה הָֽבֶל׃

[Ecclesiastes 2:15: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.2.15/)

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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:33` 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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<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Ecclesiastes 2:14 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.32/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 2:16 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.34/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 2:15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.2.15/)