---
title: Ruth 1:12 (JPS 1917) — Turn back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a hus… · tree and pragmatics
description: Turn back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. Who acts: you, I. Ruth 1:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ruth 1:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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Turn back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband.

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**Who acts:** you, I · **What happens:** turn back, go, be, have · **To what, where:** way, husband

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This is Ruth 1:12 · 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 (you, 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:RUT:13
# text = Turn back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband.
1	Turn	turn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	back	back	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	vocative	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
8	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
11	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	too	too	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	advcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: command
- act: request
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=request

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn back** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | my daughters *vocative* | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **go** | infinitive | you *not said here* | your way |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location way=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a husband |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent husband=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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שֹׁ֤בְנָה בְנֹתַי֙ לֵ֔כְןָ כִּ֥י זָקַ֖נְתִּי מִהְי֣וֹת לְאִ֑ישׁ כִּ֤י אָמַ֙רְתִּי֙ יֶשׁ־לִ֣י תִקְוָ֔ה גַּ֣ם הָיִ֤יתִי הַלַּ֙יְלָה֙ לְאִ֔ישׁ וְגַ֖ם יָלַ֥דְתִּי בָנִֽים׃

[Ruth 1:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/RUT.1.12/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **Turn back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband.**
2. [If I should say: I have hope, should I even have an husband to-night, and also bear sons;](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/RUT.14/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:RUT:13` 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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