---
title: Proverbs 16:21 (JPS 1917) — The wise in heart is called a man of discernment; and the sweetness… · tree and pragmatics
description: The wise in heart is called a man of discernment; and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning. Who acts: sweetness. Proverbs 16:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 16:21 · JPS 1917

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The wise in heart is called a man of discernment; and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.

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**Who acts:** sweetness · **What happens:** call, increase · **To what, where:** wise, learning · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Proverbs 16:21 · 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 (sweetness), 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:PRO:464
# text = The wise in heart is called a man of discernment; and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wise	wise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	xcomp	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	discernment	discernment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	sweetness	sweetness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
18	increaseth	increase	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
19	learning	learning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: pos
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | present · passive |  | the wise in heart |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **increase** | present | the sweetness of the lips | learning |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer learning=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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לַחֲכַם־לֵ֭ב יִקָּרֵ֣א נָב֑וֹן וּמֶ֥תֶק שְׂ֝פָתַ֗יִם יֹסִ֥יף לֶֽקַח׃

[Proverbs 16:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.16.21/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:PRO:464` 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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- ← previous: [Proverbs 16:20 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.463/)
- next →: [Proverbs 16:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.465/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 16:21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.16.21/)