--- title: Telling when someone may be lying — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Telling when someone may be lying», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: There is no magic sign of a lie. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/) [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/) / Telling when someone may be lying # Telling when someone may be lying Lesson 198 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 22 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/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/0/) — There is no magic sign of a lie. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/1/) — Noses do not grow like Pinocchio's, and looking away does not prove anything: shy, nervous or autistic people often avoid eye contact while telling the complete truth. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/2/) — Some things are clues worth checking, like a story that changes every time it is told, or a claim that sounds too amazing to be true. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/3/) — A clue is a reason to ask gentle questions or check another way, not proof. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/4/) — Many untrue stories are not lies: memory fills its gaps by guessing, so two honest people can remember the same fight differently. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/6/) — Example: a boy in Florida swears «cross my heart» that he saw a shark in the pool. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/7/) — Swearing harder does not make it truer. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/8/) — What counts is the facts, and over time what people do, not how often they say «trust me». - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/9/) — There is no single body sign that proves someone is lying. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/10/) — Avoiding eye contact does not prove a lie; shy, nervous or autistic people may do it while telling the truth. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/11/) — A story whose details keep changing is a clue to check gently, not proof, because people do forget details. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/12/) — Swearing hard, like «cross my heart», does not make a statement more true. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/15/) — Lie-detector machines (polygraphs) measure nervousness, like heartbeat and sweat, and honest people get nervous too, so they are not reliable. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/16/) — Memory fills gaps by guessing, so honest people can remember the same event differently. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/17/) — People often remember events in their own favour without meaning to lie. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/18/) — Young children often lie out of fear, and kindness makes honesty easier for them. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/19/) — Trust is earned by actions over time, not by saying «trust me». - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/20/) — Someone who gets angry at a question may be upset for other reasons. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/21/) — A boy in Texas believed an online seller who said a game console was real and cheap; he sent his birthday money and got nothing back. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/22/) — A girl in Leeds believed a stranger who said her mum was in hospital and he would drive her there; she told a teacher first, and the teacher found out it was a lie. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/23/) — People who lie to trick you often rush you, offer something too good to be true, or ask you to keep a secret. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/24/) — Checking with a trusted adult before acting on a surprising story stops many tricks. - ← previous: [Lies that do real harm](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/197-harmful-lies/) - next →: [Promises](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)