---
title: Proverbs 4:3 (JPS 1917) — For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight… · tree and pragmatics
description: For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother. Who acts: I. Proverbs 4:3 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 4:3 · JPS 1917

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For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** be, sight · **To what, where:** son, sight, mother

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This is Proverbs 4:3 · 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 (I), 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:93
# text = For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	tender	tender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | I | a son and a only one |  | the sight of my mother |  | unto my father | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **sight** |  |  | my mother |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=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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כִּי־בֵ֭ן הָיִ֣יתִי לְאָבִ֑י רַ֥ךְ וְ֝יָחִ֗יד לִפְנֵ֥י אִמִּֽי׃

[Proverbs 4:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.3/)

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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:93` 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 4:2 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.92/)
- next →: [Proverbs 4:4 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.94/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 4:3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.3/)