---
title: Ecclesiastes 3:12 (JPS 1917) — I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and t… · tree and pragmatics
description: I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to get pleasure so long as they live. Who acts: I, men. Ecclesiastes 3:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 3:12 · JPS 1917

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I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to get pleasure so long as they live.

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**Who acts:** I, men · **What happens:** know, rejoice, get, live · **To what, where:** pleasure

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This is Ecclesiastes 3:12 · 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, men), 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:62
# text = I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to get pleasure so long as they live.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	_
7	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	rejoice	rejoice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
18	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **rejoice** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **get** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | pleasure |  |  |  | long *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer pleasure=Stimulus |
| 4 | **live** | present | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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יָדַ֕עְתִּי כִּ֛י אֵ֥ין ט֖וֹב בָּ֑ם כִּ֣י אִם־לִשְׂמ֔וֹחַ וְלַעֲשׂ֥וֹת ט֖וֹב בְּחַיָּֽיו׃

[Ecclesiastes 3:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.3.12/)

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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:62` 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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