---
title: Genesis 18:15 (JPS 1917) — Then Sarah denied, saying: 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid. · tree and pragmatics
description: Then Sarah denied, saying: 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid. Who acts: Sarah, I. Genesis 18:15 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 18:15 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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Then Sarah denied, saying: 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid.

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**Who acts:** Sarah, I · **What happens:** deny, say, not laugh, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 18:15 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 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 (Sarah, I), 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:GEN:456
# text = Then Sarah denied, saying: 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	Sarah	Sarah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	denied	deny	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
11	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	_
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deny** | past | Sarah |  |  |  | then |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Sarah *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **laugh** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | Sarah |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | 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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וַתְּכַחֵ֨שׁ שָׂרָ֧ה ׀ לֵאמֹ֛ר לֹ֥א צָחַ֖קְתִּי כִּ֣י ׀ יָרֵ֑אָה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ׀ לֹ֖א כִּ֥י צָחָֽקְתְּ׃

[Genesis 18:15: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.18.15/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **Then Sarah denied, saying: 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid.**
2. [And He said: 'Nay; but thou didst laugh.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.457/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:GEN:456` 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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