--- title: Sore losers and button-mashers — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Sore losers and button-mashers», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Theo lost three races in a row and threw the controller onto the sofa. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/) [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/) / Sore losers and button-mashers # Sore losers and button-mashers Lesson 398 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 32 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/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/0/) — Theo lost three races in a row and threw the controller onto the sofa. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/1/) — It bounced onto the floor, the battery cover snapped off, and Theo had to tell his mum. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/2/) — Anger takes one second; a broken controller and a cross mum last much longer. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/3/) — Next time Theo felt the heat rising, he put the controller down and walked to the kitchen for a glass of water first. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/4/) — Noah had practised fighting-game combos for weeks. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/5/) — Ruby had never played; she just pressed every button as fast as she could, and she won. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/6/) — Noah said it was the most unfair thing in history. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/7/) — Then he did something clever: he taught Ruby two real moves. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/8/) — Soon she was beating him on purpose instead of by accident. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/9/) — Button-mashing can win a round; practice wins a season. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/10/) — Every losing style was on show that month. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/11/) — Kai said «the controller is broken» every time he lost, so Mia swapped controllers with him; he lost again and everyone, even Kai, laughed. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/12/) — Ollie said «I let you win» every single time, until Zara said «then let me win again», and Ollie admitted he had tried his hardest. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/13/) — Noah quit matches just before he lost so they would not count, until the group made a rule: quitting counts as a loss. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/14/) — Leo sulked and refused pizza, and by the time he wanted some there was one slice left, with no cheese. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/15/) — Winners could be just as bad. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/16/) — Priya won and did a long victory dance right in front of the TV. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/17/) — Next time she lost, Leo did the exact same dance, and she understood. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/18/) — Mia always won at her own house because she played every day, so she started picking games nobody had played, and everyone began equal. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/19/) — Jayden cried after losing a football game final on penalties and felt babyish. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/20/) — Then Theo said he had cried when his real team lost the cup, and Jayden felt less alone. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/21/) — And Ruby, beaten by a gloating boy, simply said «good game». - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/22/) — He did not know what to say. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/23/) — The next week he said «good game» first. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/24/) — Anger at a game comes fast, but broken things and broken trust last longer. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/25/) — Putting the controller down and walking away for a minute helps the hot feeling pass. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/26/) — Button-mashing can win once, but practice wins more often over time. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/28/) — Saying «I let you win» does not hide a loss; it only spoils the other person's win. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/29/) — Quitting a match to avoid a loss is unfair to the other players. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/31/) — Playing every day gives you a big head start, so a fair host evens it out. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/32/) — Strong feelings about games are normal, even for grown-ups. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/398-sore-losers-and-button-mashers/33/) — Sulking usually takes away more than the loss did. - ← previous: [Whose turn is it?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/397-whose-turn-is-it/) - next →: [Left out without a console](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/399-left-out-without-a-console/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)