---
title: 1 Kings 2:20 (JPS 1917) — Then she said: 'I ask one small petition of thee; deny me not.' And… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then she said: 'I ask one small petition of thee; deny me not.' And the king said unto her: 'Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny thee.' Who acts: Adonijah, I, king. 1 Kings 2:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Kings 2:20 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then she said: 'I ask one small petition of thee; deny me not.' And the king said unto her: 'Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny thee.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Adonijah, I, king · **What happens:** say, ask, not deny, petition · **To what, where:** one small petition, me, thee · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Kings 2:20 · 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 (Adonijah, I, king), 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:1KI:79
# text = Then she said: 'I ask one small petition of thee; deny me not.' And the king said unto her: 'Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny thee.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
9	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	petition	petition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	10	nmod	_	_
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
14	deny	deny	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
18	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
19	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
23	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
25	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
26	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	_
27	Ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	22	ccomp	_	_
28	on	on	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	vocative	_	_
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
33	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
35	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
37	deny	deny	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	_
38	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	37	obj	_	_
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
40	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=request, indirect=0

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Adonijah |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | I | one small petition of thee |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent petition=Recipient |
| 3 | **not** **deny** | infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent i=Eventuality |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the king |  |  |  |  | unto Adonijah | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | my mother *vocative* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **not** **deny** | future | I | thee |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent thou=Eventuality |
| 7 | **petition** |  |  | thee |  |  |  |  | nom petition «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וַתֹּ֗אמֶר שְׁאֵלָ֨ה אַחַ֤ת קְטַנָּה֙ אָֽנֹכִי֙ שֹׁאֶ֣לֶת מֵֽאִתָּ֔ךְ אַל־תָּ֖שֶׁב אֶת־פָּנָ֑י וַיֹּֽאמֶר־לָ֤הּ הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ שַׁאֲלִ֣י אִמִּ֔י כִּ֥י לֹֽא־אָשִׁ֖יב אֶת־פָּנָֽיִךְ׃

[1 Kings 2:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI.2.20/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1KI:79` 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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