---
title: Esther 1:15 (JPS 1917) — 'What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, forasmuch… · tree and pragmatics
description: 'What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, forasmuch as she hath not done the bidding of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?' Who acts: we, Vashti. Esther 1:15 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Esther 1:15 · JPS 1917

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'What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, forasmuch as she hath not done the bidding of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?'

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**Who acts:** we, Vashti · **What happens:** do, accord, not do, bid · **To what, where:** bidding, king

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This is Esther 1:15 · 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 (we, Vashti), 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:EST:14
# text = 'What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, forasmuch as she hath not done the bidding of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	_
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
3	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	Vashti	Vashti	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
10	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	case	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	forasmuch	forasmuch	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	bidding	bidding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	Ahasuerus	Ahasuerus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	appos	_	_
26	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	chamberlains	chamberlain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
29	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
30	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | shall | we |  |  |  |  | unto the queen; accord law | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **do** | present · perfect | Vashti | the bidding of the king |  |  |  | by the chamberlains | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bidding=Eventuality |
| 4 | **bid** |  |  | the king |  |  |  |  | nom bidding «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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כְּדָת֙ מַֽה־לַּעֲשׂ֔וֹת בַּמַּלְכָּ֖ה וַשְׁתִּ֑י עַ֣ל ׀ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹֽא־עָשְׂתָ֗ה אֶֽת־מַאֲמַר֙ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵר֔וֹשׁ בְּיַ֖ד הַסָּרִיסִֽים׃ס

[Esther 1:15: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.1.15/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EST:14` 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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