---
title: Proverbs 20:14 (JPS 1917) — 'It is bad, it is bad', saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way… · tree and pragmatics
description: 'It is bad, it is bad', saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. Who acts: bread, buyer. Proverbs 20:14 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.572/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Ketuvim](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/) / [Proverbs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO/) / [chapter 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO/20/) / [20:14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.20.14/) / JPS 1

# Proverbs 20:14 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'It is bad, it is bad', saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bread, buyer · **What happens:** be, say, go, boast · **To what, where:** way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Proverbs 20:14 · 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 (bread, buyer), 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:572
# text = 'It is bad, it is bad', saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	_
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	ccomp	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
9	',	',	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
10	saith	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	buyer	buyer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
15	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	18	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	boasteth	boast	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | bread |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | bread |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the buyer |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **go** | present · passive | buyer | buyer's way |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **boast** *speech: other* | present | buyer |  |  |  | then |  | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
רַ֣ע רַ֭ע יֹאמַ֣ר הַקּוֹנֶ֑ה וְאֹזֵ֥ל ל֝֗וֹ אָ֣ז יִתְהַלָּֽל׃

[Proverbs 20:14: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.20.14/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:PRO:572` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Proverbs 20:13 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.571/)
- next →: [Proverbs 20:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.573/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 20:14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.20.14/)