---
title: Proverbs 26:4 (JPS 1917) — Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unt… · tree and pragmatics
description: Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Who acts: you, thou. Proverbs 26:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 26:4 · JPS 1917

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Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.

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**Who acts:** you, thou · **What happens:** not answer, accord, be · **To what, where:** fool

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This is Proverbs 26:4 · 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 (you, thou), 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:753
# text = Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
1	Answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	1	advmod	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	case	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	folly	folly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	14	nsubj	_	_
12	also	also	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	cop	_	_
14	like	like	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	advcl	_	_
15	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: command
- act: suggest
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **answer** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | a fool |  |  |  | accord horse's folly | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent fool=Eventuality |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | infinitive | thou |  |  |  |  | unto horse; like *property* | tree rules |

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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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אַל־תַּ֣עַן כְּ֭סִיל כְּאִוַּלְתּ֑וֹ פֶּֽן־תִּשְׁוֶה־לּ֥וֹ גַם־אָֽתָּה׃

[Proverbs 26:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.26.4/)

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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:753` 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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