--- title: A guest at the table, and manners on the phone — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «A guest at the table, and manners on the phone», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: At someone else's table you wait until food is offered, follow the family's customs, and say "No, thank you" instead of "I --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/) [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/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/) / A guest at the table, and manners on t… # A guest at the table, and manners on the phone Lesson 128 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 23 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/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/0/) — At someone else's table you wait until food is offered, follow the family's customs, and say "No, thank you" instead of "I hate that", because a gentle refusal does not hurt the cook. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/1/) — Families and faiths differ: some say grace before eating, so you wait quietly; a friend fasting in Ramadan deserves kindness, never teasing; with chopsticks, you never stand them upright in rice, which looks like a funeral custom in some Asian cultures. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/2/) — Some foods are finger foods, like pizza, sandwiches, chips and chicken drumsticks; most others are eaten with a knife and fork. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/3/) — On the phone, safety comes first: you never tell a stranger you are home alone or give your address; you say your parent is busy and cannot come to the phone, and you tell your parent. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/4/) — A boy in Phoenix gets a call from an unknown number asking "Is your mum home?"; he lets his dad answer, because unknown callers can be scammers. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/5/) — Pizza, sandwiches, chips and chicken drumsticks are finger foods, and most other foods are eaten with cutlery. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/6/) — If a family says grace (a short prayer of thanks) before eating, you wait quietly until they finish. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/7/) — After a meal at a friend's house you thank the cook and offer to carry your plate. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/8/) — At someone else's table you wait until food is offered, or ask politely. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/9/) — In a restaurant you speak quietly, stay in your seat and are polite to the waiter. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/11/) — During Ramadan many Muslims do not eat or drink from dawn to sunset, and friends are kind about it. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/12/) — Chopsticks are never stuck upright in rice, and it is fine to ask for a fork. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/13/) — You never tell a caller you do not know that you are home alone, and you never give your address. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/14/) — Phone calls are best made between about 9 in the morning and 8 in the evening, unless it is urgent. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/15/) — Unknown callers could be scammers, so a parent answers or the call is ignored. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/16/) — Never give a caller a bank card number; a call saying you have won a prize and asking for one is a scam. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/17/) — On a crowded bus you speak quietly on the phone and keep it short. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/18/) — If a friend phones during a family meal, you ask if you may call back later. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/19/) — Messages can be saved, shared and misunderstood, so you never send what you would not say face to face. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/21/) — A girl in Ohio grabbed food first from every dish at a friend's house; the friend's parents did not invite her again. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/22/) — On the phone you never tell a stranger that you are home alone or that the family is away. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/23/) — Good table manners as a guest make people happy to have you back. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/24/) — «Loved up» means very much in love, and «wedding bells soon» means people think a couple may get married. - ← previous: [Excuse me, and good manners at the table](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/) - next →: [Video calls and visiting a friend's house](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/129-video-calls-and-visiting-friends/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)