---
title: Ecclesiastes 4:2 (JPS 1917) — Wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead more than the liv… · tree and pragmatics
description: Wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead more than the living that are yet alive; Who acts: I, dead, living. Ecclesiastes 4:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 4:2 · JPS 1917

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Wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead more than the living that are yet alive;

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**Who acts:** I, dead, living · **What happens:** praise, be · **To what, where:** dead

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This is Ecclesiastes 4:2 · 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, dead, living), 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:74
# text = Wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead more than the living that are yet alive;
1	Wherefore	wherefore	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	praised	praise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dead	dead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	already	already	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
11	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	3	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 | **praise** | past | I | the dead |  |  |  | wherefore *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dead=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | the dead |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | the living |  |  |  | yet | alive *property* | tree rules |

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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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וְשַׁבֵּ֧חַ אֲנִ֛י אֶת־הַמֵּתִ֖ים שֶׁכְּבָ֣ר מֵ֑תוּ מִן־הַ֣חַיִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֛ר הֵ֥מָּה חַיִּ֖ים עֲדֶֽנָה׃

[Ecclesiastes 4:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.4.2/)

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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:74` 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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- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 4:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.4.2/)