--- title: Our street: feuds, newcomers and stories that grow — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Our street: feuds, newcomers and stories that grow», a lesson of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A story passed from person to person is like a snowball rolling downhill: it picks up bits on the way. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Adult life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/) / Our street: feuds, newcomers and stori… # Our street: feuds, newcomers and stories that grow Lesson 42 of the adult life course of Mova's primary school: 21 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/0/) — A story passed from person to person is like a snowball rolling downhill: it picks up bits on the way. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/2/) — Stories grow because people fill gaps with guesses, round numbers up, and add a twist that makes the tale better to tell. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/3/) — One clue plus a guess plus another guess feels like news, but it is not. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/4/) — Scene: in Dublin, Nan sees a man with a tape measure outside the Kellys' house. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/5/) — By teatime she says: «They're selling up, sign going up any day, they've been arguing for months.» The tape measure was real. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/6/) — The sign, the selling and the arguing were all added on the way. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/7/) — Some exaggeration is just fun when everyone is in on the joke — «the Coopers' Christmas lights can be seen from space». - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/8/) — But when a real name is added to a crime, or a guess is made about someone's marriage, money or mind, the story can follow that person for years. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/9/) — The best checks are simple: read the sign yourself, ask the person kindly, or say «I don't know» — it is allowed. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/10/) — A story told through three people often comes back a different shape; a visit can become an emigration. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/11/) — A joke label like «midlife crisis» is not a fact about someone's mind; admiring a car is fine, diagnosing a person is unkind. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/12/) — Exaggeration that everyone knows is a joke, like lights «seen from space», is harmless fun. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/13/) — Ghost stories and playground legends are fun, but they should not turn a real neighbour into a villain. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/14/) — If someone stops coming to something, ask how they are instead of deciding they have fallen out with you. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/15/) — Families don't owe the street their news first; when a baby arrives, the kind reply is «congratulations». - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/16/) — A learner driver has L plates and a grown-up beside them; check before you accuse anyone of breaking the law. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/17/) — Liking or disliking a purple door is an opinion, not news; sneering at people for it is unkind. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/18/) — Never put a real person's name onto a crime story; the police name people when they have reason to, not the playground. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/19/) — Being glad for someone's success without hunting for a catch is part of being a good neighbour. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/20/) — Bad-news gossip can feel caring but still spreads fear; offer help, not headlines. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/23/) — People change jobs and move all the time; not every leaving hides a secret. - ← previous: [Our street: who parked where and who won what](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/41-our-street-who-parked-where-and-who-won-what/) - next →: [Our street: when a guess becomes a reputation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/43-our-street-when-a-guess-becomes-a-reputation/) - ↑ back to [Adult life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/)