---
title: Proverbs 26:5 (JPS 1917) — Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. · tree and pragmatics
description: Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. Who acts: you, horse. Proverbs 26:5 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 26:5 · JPS 1917

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Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

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**Who acts:** you, horse · **What happens:** answer, be · **To what, where:** fool, own eyes

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This is Proverbs 26:5 · 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 (you, horse), 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:754
# text = Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
1	Answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	according	accord	ADP	VBG	_	7	case	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	fixed	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	folly	folly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	Mood=Sub|VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
12	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	advcl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: command
- act: suggest
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=suggest, voice=character

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **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 | **is** | infinitive | horse |  |  | horse's own eyes |  | wise *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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עֲנֵ֣ה כְ֭סִיל כְּאִוַּלְתּ֑וֹ פֶּן־יִהְיֶ֖ה חָכָ֣ם בְּעֵינָֽיו׃

[Proverbs 26:5: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.26.5/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:PRO:754` 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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