--- title: Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Seeing is partly guessing. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/) [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/) / Illusions that fool the eye and advert… # Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet Lesson 280 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 24 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/280-illusions-and-adverts/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/0/) — Seeing is partly guessing. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/1/) — Your brain judges size and length by what surrounds a thing, so it can be fooled: two equal lines with arrow ends look different (the Müller-Lyer illusion), and the moon looks huge near the horizon although it is about the same size all night. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/3/) — Light can play tricks too. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/4/) — A straw in water looks bent because light changes direction as it passes from water to air (refraction). - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/6/) — Adverts are made to make you want things. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/9/) — Example: a girl in Texas sees a toy drone zooming through a forest on TV. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/10/) — The real one is small, flies for a few minutes and needs batteries. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/11/) — The advert was not exactly a lie, but it showed the toy at its very best. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/14/) — Fortune tellers and horoscopes use general statements that fit almost anyone; there is no evidence they predict the future. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/15/) — When two lines look different in length, measure them with a ruler, because the brain can be fooled by their surroundings. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/16/) — A straw in water looks bent because light changes direction as it passes from water to air; this is called refraction. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/17/) — The moon looks bigger near the horizon only because the brain compares it with trees and buildings. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/18/) — A mirage on a hot road is hot air bending light from the sky, not real water. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/19/) — Some pictures, like the duck-rabbit, can be seen in two ways, which shows that seeing is partly guessing. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/20/) — Professional magicians plan audience help carefully and safely, and you can say no if you don't want to. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/21/) — Adverts show toys at their best, sometimes with effects; «pictures are for illustration» means the real toy may do less. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/22/) — Read the small print, like «batteries not included» or «each sold separately», because extra parts cost more. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/23/) — Sugary cereals with cartoon characters are put on low shelves on purpose, at children's eye level. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/25/) — «Up to 70% off» means only a few things are that cheap; prices like $9.99 or £4.99 are almost the same as the round number. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/27/) — Never buy gems, coins or loot boxes in a game without a parent's permission; small purchases add up fast. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/28/) — A family in Florida bought a toy drone after an exciting advert; at home it flew for a few minutes, crashed and broke, and it was nothing like the advert. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/29/) — A man paid a fortune teller every week for years because she said bad luck was coming; he lost a lot of money and nothing she said ever came true. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/30/) — Adverts are made to make people want things, and people often feel disappointed when the real thing arrives. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/31/) — People lose a lot of money every year to fortune tellers and other tricks that use guesses that fit almost anyone. - ← previous: [April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks/) - next →: [Advert tricks and offers that are too good to be true](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/281-advert-tricks-and-too-good-offers/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)