---
title: Jonah 1:8 (JPS 1917) — Then said they unto him: 'Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause thi… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said they unto him: 'Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us: what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?' Who acts: lots, we, evil, thou. Jonah 1:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# Jonah 1:8 · JPS 1917

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Then said they unto him: 'Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us: what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?'

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**Who acts:** lots, we, evil, thou · **What happens:** say, tell, pray, be, come · **To what, where:** us, thee, occupation, country · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Jonah 1:8 · 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 (lots, we, evil, thou), 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:JON:8
# text = Then said they unto him: 'Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us: what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
8	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
9	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
11	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
13	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	12	obj	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
18	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	advcl	_	_
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	27	nsubj	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	thine	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	occupation	occupation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	_
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	whence	whence	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
31	comest	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
32	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	31	nsubj	_	_
33	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	_
34	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	37	nsubj	_	_
35	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	37	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	42	det	_	_
42	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	_
43	art	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
44	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	42	nsubj	_	_
45	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
46	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: yes/no question
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed polarity=none

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | lots *= lot* |  |  |  | then | unto Jonah | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  | us |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |
| 3 | **pray** | present | we | thee |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | present | this evil |  |  |  |  | upon us; for cause | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | present |  | thine occupation |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **come** | present | thou |  |  |  |  | whence *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is a** | present |  | thy country |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | present | thou |  |  |  |  | of what people | 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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וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ אֵלָ֔יו הַגִּידָה־נָּ֣א לָ֔נוּ בַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר לְמִי־הָרָעָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את לָ֑נוּ מַה־מְּלַאכְתְּךָ֙ וּמֵאַ֣יִן תָּב֔וֹא מָ֣ה אַרְצֶ֔ךָ וְאֵֽי־מִזֶּ֥ה עַ֖ם אָֽתָּה׃

[Jonah 1:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JON.1.8/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JON:8` 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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