---
title: Joshua 4:6 (JPS 1917) — that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in ti… · tree and pragmatics
description: that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying: What mean ye by these stones? Who acts: this, children, ye. Joshua 4:6 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Joshua 4:6 · JPS 1917

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that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying: What mean ye by these stones?

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**Who acts:** this, children, ye · **What happens:** be, ask, come, say, mean · **To what, where:** sign · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Joshua 4:6 · 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 (this, children, ye), 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:JOS:65
# text = that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying: What mean ye by these stones?
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
3	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	among	among	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
11	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	14	mark	_	_
12	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
20	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
21	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
22	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	23	obj	_	_
23	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	ccomp	_	_
24	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	23	nsubj	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	27	det	_	_
27	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: other
- act: ask
- voice: none
- polarity: none
- hedged: yes
- teacher: changed form=other

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | may | this | a sign |  |  |  | among you | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | your children |  |  |  | time |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **come** | to-infinitive | your children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | this *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **mean** | present | ye |  |  |  |  | by this stones | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

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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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לְמַ֗עַן תִּֽהְיֶ֛ה זֹ֥את א֖וֹת בְּקִרְבְּכֶ֑ם כִּֽי־יִשְׁאָל֨וּן בְּנֵיכֶ֤ם מָחָר֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר מָ֛ה הָאֲבָנִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לָכֶֽם׃

[Joshua 4:6: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JOS.4.6/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JOS:65` 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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