---
title: 1 Samuel 28:20 (JPS 1917) — Then Saul fell straightway his full length upon the earth, and was s… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then Saul fell straightway his full length upon the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. Who acts: Saul, strength. 1 Samuel 28:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# 1 Samuel 28:20 · JPS 1917

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Then Saul fell straightway his full length upon the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.

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**Who acts:** Saul, strength · **What happens:** fall, be, eat, word · **To what, where:** full length, bread, Samuel

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 28:20 · 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 (Saul, strength), 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:830
# text = Then Saul fell straightway his full length upon the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	straightway	straightway	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	sore	sore	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
15	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	20	case	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	fixed	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Samuel	Samuel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	26	expl	_	_
26	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
27	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	28	det	_	_
28	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nmod	_	_
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
32	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
36	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	37	det	_	_
37	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
38	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	40	det:predet	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl:unmarked	_	_
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	45	cc	_	_
43	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	45	det:predet	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	_
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past | Saul | Saul's full length |  |  | then | upon the earth; straightway *property* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient length=Result |
| 2 | **is** | past | Saul *not said here* |  |  |  |  | because the words of Samuel; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | past | no strength in Saul |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **eat** | past · perfect | strength | no bread |  |  | day |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bread=Patient |
| 5 | **word** |  |  | Samuel |  |  |  |  | nom word «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 -->
וַיְמַהֵ֣ר שָׁא֗וּל וַיִּפֹּ֤ל מְלֹא־קֽוֹמָתוֹ֙ אַ֔רְצָה וַיִּרָ֥א מְאֹ֖ד מִדִּבְרֵ֣י שְׁמוּאֵ֑ל גַּם־כֹּ֙חַ֙ לֹא־הָ֣יָה ב֔וֹ כִּ֣י לֹ֤א אָכַל֙ לֶ֔חֶם כָּל־הַיּ֖וֹם וְכָל־הַלָּֽיְלָה׃

[1 Samuel 28:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.28.20/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:830` 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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