---
title: 1 Samuel 21:12 (JPS 1917) — Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying: Saul hath… · tree and pragmatics
description: Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?' Who acts: servants, Saul. 1 Samuel 21:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 21:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2

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Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?'

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**Who acts:** servants, Saul · **What happens:** not sing, say, slain · **To what, where:** one, another, dances, thousands · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 1 Samuel 21:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 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 (servants, Saul), 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:632
# text = Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?'
1	Did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	one	one	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	another	another	PRON	DT	PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	dances	dance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
15	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	slain	slain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
27	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- 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 | **not** **sing** *speech: express* | past · do-support | servants *= servant* | one | another | dances |  | of David | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent one=Topic to another=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | servants *= servant* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **slain** | present · perfect | Saul | David's thousands |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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וַיֹּ֨אמְר֜וּ עַבְדֵ֤י אָכִישׁ֙ אֵלָ֔יו הֲלוֹא־זֶ֥ה דָוִ֖ד מֶ֣לֶךְ הָאָ֑רֶץ הֲל֣וֹא לָזֶ֗ה יַעֲנ֤וּ בַמְּחֹלוֹת֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר הִכָּ֤ה שָׁאוּל֙ בַּאֲלָפָ֔יו וְדָוִ֖ד בְּרִבְבֹתָֽיו׃

[1 Samuel 21:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.21.12/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. [And the servants of Achish said unto him: 'Is not this David the king of the land?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.631/)
2. **Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?'**

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:632` 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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