--- title: Promises — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Promises», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Keeping promises, even small ones, is how people learn they can rely on you. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/) [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/) / Promises # Promises Lesson 199 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 27 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/199-promises/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/1/) — Keeping promises, even small ones, is how people learn they can rely on you. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/2/) — A pinky promise is still a promise. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/3/) — So only promise what you really mean to do. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/4/) — An empty «I promise I'll tidy later», said just to stop someone asking, teaches people your word means nothing. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/5/) — Sometimes you cannot keep a promise, because you are ill or plans change. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/6/) — Then tell the person as early as you can and say sorry. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/7/) — If you simply forgot, own up and make it right quickly. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/8/) — Some promises do not count: a promise forced by a threat, or one that controls who you can be friends with. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/9/) — You do not have to make them, and a promise made under threat should be told to an adult. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/10/) — Example: a girl in Colorado promised to look after a new puppy. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/12/) — Only promise what you really mean to do. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/13/) — A pinky promise is still a promise, and people remember broken ones. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/14/) — Keeping small promises is how people learn they can rely on you. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/15/) — If you cannot keep a promise, tell the person as early as you can and say sorry. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/16/) — A promise to look after a pet means caring for it every day, because the animal depends on you. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/17/) — A borrowed thing should be returned on time and in the same condition. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/18/) — Grown-ups sometimes cannot keep promises because things change, and calmly talking about it helps. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/19/) — A promise made under threat does not count, and you should tell an adult about it. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/20/) — Dropping a promise for a better offer hurts the other person, so keep it or ask them honestly first. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/22/) — Younger children take promises very seriously. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/23/) — If you forget a promise, own up, say sorry and fix it as soon as you can. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/24/) — You do not have to make a promise that controls who you can be friends with. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/25/) — A boy in Ohio promised to keep his little brother safe at the playground and then went off with friends; his brother wandered to the road and a neighbour brought him back. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/26/) — A girl in Leeds kept promising to return a friend's book and never did; the friend stopped lending her things. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/27/) — Breaking a promise to keep someone safe can put them in danger. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/28/) — People stop trusting someone who often breaks promises. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/199-promises/29/) — A promise to keep a secret does not count if someone is being hurt; tell a trusted adult. - ← previous: [Telling when someone may be lying](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/) - next →: [Playing fair and cheating in games](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/200-cheating-in-games/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)