---
title: 1 Samuel 3:2 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his plac… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place — now his eyes had begun to wax dim, that he could not see— Who acts: vision, eyes, Eli. 1 Samuel 3:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 3:2 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place — now his eyes had begun to wax dim, that he could not see—

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** vision, eyes, Eli · **What happens:** come, pass, lay down, begin, wax, not see · **To what, where:** Eli, place

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 3:2 · 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 (vision, eyes, Eli), 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:70
# text = And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place — now his eyes had begun to wax dim, that he could not see—
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
11	Eli	Eli	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
14	down	down	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
19	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	begun	begin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	wax	wax	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	dim	dim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	xcomp	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
33	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | vision |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | vision *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **lay down** | past · passive |  | Eli |  | Eli's place |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in place=Destination |
| 4 | **begin** | past · perfect | Eli's eyes |  |  |  | now |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **wax** | to-infinitive | Eli's eyes *not said here* |  |  |  |  | dim *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **see** | could | Eli |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 -->
וַֽיְהִי֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא וְעֵלִ֖י שֹׁכֵ֣ב בִּמְקֹמ֑וֹוְעֵינָיו֙ הֵחֵ֣לּוּ כֵה֔וֹת לֹ֥א יוּכַ֖ל לִרְאֽוֹת׃

[1 Samuel 3:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.3.2/)

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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:70` 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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