---
title: Exodus 2:20 (JPS 1917) — Why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.' · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.' Who acts: ye, you, man. Exodus 2:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 2:20 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2

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Why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.'

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**Who acts:** ye, you, man · **What happens:** be, call, eat · **To what, where:** flock, man, bread · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Exodus 2:20 · 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 (ye, you, man), 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:EXO:47
# text = Why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.'
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	expl	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	7	nsubj	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
11	call	call	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
18	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
20	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=ask, indirect=0

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present · perfect | ye | flock |  |  |  | leave *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **eat** | may | man | bread |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bread=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}

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וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֶל־בְּנֹתָ֖יו וְאַיּ֑וֹ לָ֤מָּה זֶּה֙ עֲזַבְתֶּ֣ן אֶת־הָאִ֔ישׁ קִרְאֶ֥ן ל֖וֹ וְיֹ֥אכַל לָֽחֶם׃

[Exodus 2:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.2.20/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. [And he said unto his daughters: 'And where is he?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.46/)
2. **Why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.'**

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:47` 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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