---
title: Proverbs 21:8 (JPS 1917) — The way of man is froward and strange; but as for the pure, his work… · tree and pragmatics
description: The way of man is froward and strange; but as for the pure, his work is right. Who acts: way, work, man. Proverbs 21:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 21:8 · JPS 1917

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The way of man is froward and strange; but as for the pure, his work is right.

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**Who acts:** way, work, man · **What happens:** be, work

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This is Proverbs 21:8 · 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 (way, work, man), 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:596
# text = The way of man is froward and strange; but as for the pure, his work is right.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	froward	froward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	14	case	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	fixed	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	pure	pure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	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 | **is** | present | the way of man |  |  |  |  | froward *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the way of man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | man's work |  |  |  |  | as the pure; right *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **work** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: 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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הֲפַכְפַּ֬ךְ דֶּ֣רֶךְ אִ֣ישׁ וָזָ֑ר וְ֝זַ֗ךְ יָשָׁ֥ר פָּעֳלֽוֹ׃

[Proverbs 21:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.21.8/)

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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:596` 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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