--- title: Why people lie, and what is not a lie — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Why people lie, and what is not a lie», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A lie is saying something you know is false in order to make someone believe it. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/) [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/) / Why people lie, and what is not a lie # Why people lie, and what is not a lie Lesson 195 of the everyday 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/everyday/195-why-people-lie/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/0/) — A lie is saying something you know is false in order to make someone believe it. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/1/) — The wish to fool someone is what makes it a lie. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/2/) — People lie for understandable reasons: to escape trouble, to be admired, to get something they want, or to cover for a friend. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/3/) — Understanding the reason does not make the lie right, but it helps you be fair and helps you choose the truth yourself. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/4/) — Lots of untrue words are not lies at all: a made-up story everyone knows is made up, an actor playing a villain, a little child's pretend dragon, or «I've told you a million times!» Nobody is being fooled. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/6/) — Now he must invent more lies to cover the first one, and when the truth comes out he is in trouble for the window and for the lie. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/7/) — Owning up early would have kept the trouble small. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/9/) — Fear of being punished is the most common reason people lie. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/10/) — Owning up early usually makes the trouble smaller than being caught later. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/11/) — One lie often has to be covered by more lies. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/12/) — Some people make up stories about themselves to be liked or admired, but real friends like you for who you really are. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/13/) — Lying to get something you want is still lying, even if the thing seems small. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/15/) — Loyalty to a friend does not mean lying for them; covering up can let harm go on and drags you into the trouble. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/17/) — Very young children still mix up wishing, pretending and what really happened, so their tall tales are imagination, not wicked lies. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/18/) — Stories, plays, films and games of pretend are shared make-believe, not lies, because everyone knows they are not real. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/20/) — Lying can become a habit, and honesty can become a habit too with practice and help. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/21/) — You can say no politely, like «Thanks, but I can't come», without inventing an excuse. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/22/) — A boy in Ohio lied that he was at a friend's house when he went to the lake; he fell in and nobody knew where to look for him, and it took hours to find him cold and scared. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/23/) — A girl in Leeds lied to avoid trouble about a broken phone; when it came out, her parents trusted her less, and she lost the phone for a month. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/24/) — When people lie about where they are going, nobody knows where to look if something goes wrong. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/195-why-people-lie/25/) — Many lies are told to avoid trouble, but they usually lead to more trouble when found out. - ← previous: [Birthday parties](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/130-birthday-parties/) - next →: [White lies and kind silence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/196-white-lies-and-kind-silence/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)