---
title: Psalms 88:11 (JPS 1917) — Wilt Thou work wonders for the dead? · tree and pragmatics
description: Wilt Thou work wonders for the dead? Who acts: Thou. Psalms 88:11 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Psalms 88:11 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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Wilt Thou work wonders for the dead?

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**Who acts:** Thou · **What happens:** work · **To what, where:** wonders

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This is Psalms 88:11 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (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:PSA:1550
# text = Wilt Thou work wonders for the dead?
1	Wilt	will	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	Thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nsubj	_	_
3	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	wonders	wonder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dead	dead	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=ask, indirect=0

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | future | Thou | wonders |  |  |  | for the dead | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent wonder=Theme for dead=Eventuality |

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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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הֲלַמֵּתִ֥ים תַּעֲשֶׂה־פֶּ֑לֶא אִם־רְ֝פָאִ֗ים יָק֤וּמוּ ׀ יוֹד֬וּךָ סֶּֽלָה׃

[Psalms 88:11: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.88.11/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **Wilt Thou work wonders for the dead?**
2. [Or shall the shades arise and give Thee thanks?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1551/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:PSA:1550` 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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