--- title: 1 Samuel 17:55 (JPS 1917) — And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unt… · tree and pragmatics description: And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host: 'Abner, whose son is this youth?' And Abner said: 'As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.' Who acts: Saul, David, youth, Abner. 1 Samuel 17:55 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragma --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.511/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Nevi'im](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/) / [1 Samuel](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA/) / [chapter 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA/17/) / [17:55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.17.55/) / JPS 1 # 1 Samuel 17:55 · JPS 1917 And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host: 'Abner, whose son is this youth?' And Abner said: 'As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.' **Who acts:** Saul, David, youth, Abner, soul, I · **What happens:** see, go, say, be, live, not tell · **To what, where:** David, Philistine, son · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is 1 Samuel 17:55 · 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 (Saul, David, youth, Abner), 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:1SA:511 # text = And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host: 'Abner, whose son is this youth?' And Abner said: 'As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.' 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 2 when when SCONJ WRB _ 4 mark _ _ 3 Saul Saul PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 advcl _ _ 5 David David PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 6 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 7 forth forth ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 8 against against ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 Philistine Philistine PROPN NNP Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 11 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 14 unto unto ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 Abner Abner PROPN NNP Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 16 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 captain captain NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 appos _ _ 19 of of ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 host host NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nmod _ _ 22 : : PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 23 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 27 punct _ _ 24 Abner Abner PROPN NNP Number=Sing 27 vocative _ _ 25 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 26 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Int 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 ccomp _ _ 28 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 29 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 30 det _ _ 30 youth youth NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 31 ? ? PUNCT . _ 27 punct _ _ 32 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 27 punct _ _ 33 And and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 Abner Abner PROPN NNP Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 35 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 conj _ _ 36 : : PUNCT : _ 49 punct _ _ 37 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 49 punct _ _ 38 As as SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 39 thy thy PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 soul soul NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj _ _ 41 liveth live VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 49 advcl _ _ 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 O o INTJ UH _ 44 discourse _ _ 44 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 vocative _ _ 45 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 46 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ _ 47 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 49 aux _ _ 48 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 49 advmod _ _ 49 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 ccomp _ _ 50 . . PUNCT . _ 49 punct _ _ 51 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 49 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: statement - act: narrate - voice: narrator - polarity: none - teacher: changed form=decl, act=narrate, voice=narrator | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | Saul | David | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **go** | infinitive | David *not said here* | | | the Philistine | | forth *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme against philistine=Location | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | David | | | | | unto Abner | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is a** | present | this youth | son | | | | Abner *vocative* | tree rules | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Abner | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **live** | present | thy soul | | | | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | can | I | | | | | king *vocative* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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} וְכִרְא֨וֹת שָׁא֜וּל אֶת־דָּוִ֗ד יֹצֵא֙ לִקְרַ֣את הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֔י אָמַ֗ר אֶל־אַבְנֵר֙ שַׂ֣ר הַצָּבָ֔א בֶּן־מִי־זֶ֥ה הַנַּ֖עַר אַבְנֵ֑ר וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אַבְנֵ֔ר חֵֽי־נַפְשְׁךָ֥ הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ אִם־יָדָֽעְתִּי׃ [1 Samuel 17:55: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.17.55/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:511` 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. - ← previous: [1 Samuel 17:54 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.510/) - next →: [1 Samuel 17:56 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.512/) - ↑ back to [1 Samuel 17:55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.17.55/)