--- title: Breaking things and hiding the pieces — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Breaking things and hiding the pieces», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Jamie in Glasgow broke Mum's favourite mug and hid the pieces in the bin. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/) [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/) / Breaking things and hiding the pieces # Breaking things and hiding the pieces Lesson 342 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/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/0/) — Jamie in Glasgow broke Mum's favourite mug and hid the pieces in the bin. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/1/) — She found them when she emptied it, and she was sad about the mug but sadder that he hid it. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/2/) — He said sorry, saved up for a new one, and at confession felt the weight lift. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/3/) — Things can be replaced; hiding is what makes it worse. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/4/) — Weeks later he slipped, worse than before. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/5/) — Bored on a dark evening and egged on by older boys, he threw a firecracker at old Mrs Reid's door. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/6/) — Her heart raced, her dog hid under the bed for a whole day, and the porch boards were scorched. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/7/) — A police officer came round and gave him a warning, Dad paid for the repair, and for a while the street looked at Jamie differently. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/8/) — The shame was heavy. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/9/) — He went to confession again, and the priest said what Mum said: everyone slips, forgiveness does not run out, but each time you must put it right. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/10/) — So Jamie said sorry to Mrs Reid at her door, painted her porch on Saturdays and walked her dog after school for a month. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/11/) — He also learned how habits change: slowly, with fewer silly friends and more to do than to be idle. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/12/) — He joined the football club, and the older boys stopped calling. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/13/) — Hidden damage usually gets worse: juice on a laptop wiped and kept secret ruined the keyboard the next day, while telling straight away might have saved it. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/14/) — Hiding something you broke usually upsets people more than the breaking itself. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/15/) — Some accidents get worse the longer they are hidden, like a spill inside a laptop. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/16/) — Running away from damage you caused doesn't make it go away; owning up does the most good. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/17/) — An accident is easy to forgive; a lie about it is harder. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/19/) — A firecracker at someone's door can frighten people and pets badly and damage the house; the police can be called. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/20/) — Making amends can be work as well as money, like painting a porch you damaged. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/21/) — People who have confessed can slip again; forgiveness does not run out, but each wrong must be put right. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/22/) — Habits change slowly: fewer friends who lead you into trouble and more things to do than to be idle. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/342-breaking-things-and-hiding-the-pieces/23/) — Owning up early usually saves everyone a lot of trouble. - ← previous: [Cheating in games and sports](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/341-cheating-in-games-and-sports/) - next →: [Accidents told too late](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/343-accidents-told-too-late/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)