---
title: Esther 2:5 (JPS 1917) — There was a certain Jew in Shushan the castle, whose name was Mordec… · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a certain Jew in Shushan the castle, whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair the son of Shimei the son of Kish, a Benjamite, Who acts: certain Jew, name, Mordecai. Esther 2:5 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Esther 2:5 · JPS 1917

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There was a certain Jew in Shushan the castle, whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair the son of Shimei the son of Kish, a Benjamite,

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**Who acts:** certain Jew, name, Mordecai · **What happens:** be, name · **To what, where:** Mordecai

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This is Esther 2:5 · 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 (certain Jew, name, Mordecai), 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:27
# text = There was a certain Jew in Shushan the castle, whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair the son of Shimei the son of Kish, a Benjamite,
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	Jew	Jew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Shushan	Shushan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	Mordecai	Mordecai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	acl:relcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Jair	Jair	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Shimei	Shimei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	appos	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Kish	Kish	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	Benjamite	Benjamite	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	appos	_	_
30	,	,	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 | **be** | past | a certain Jew in Shushan |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | Mordecai's name | Mordecai |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **name** |  | Mordecai |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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אִ֣ישׁ יְהוּדִ֔י הָיָ֖ה בְּשׁוּשַׁ֣ן הַבִּירָ֑ה וּשְׁמ֣וֹ מָרְדֳּכַ֗י בֶּ֣ן יָאִ֧יר בֶּן־שִׁמְעִ֛י בֶּן־קִ֖ישׁ אִ֥ישׁ יְמִינִֽי׃

[Esther 2:5: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.2.5/)

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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:27` 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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