--- title: Mum's card: game money is real money — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Mum's card: game money is real money», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Ollie was playing a building game on the family tablet when a shiny button offered «MEGA COIN CHEST». --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/) [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/) / Mum's card: game money is real money # Mum's card: game money is real money Lesson 414 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 31 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/414-mums-card/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/0/) — Ollie was playing a building game on the family tablet when a shiny button offered «MEGA COIN CHEST». - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/3/) — Then his mum looked at her phone and said, in a very quiet voice that was much worse than shouting: «Ollie. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/4/) — Why has a game taken seventy pounds from my bank?» Mum's card had been saved on the tablet, so every «ding» had been real money. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/5/) — Ollie's mum contacted the shop, explained a child had bought it by mistake, and asked for the money back; then she removed the saved card and turned on a password for every purchase. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/6/) — Ruby learned the same lesson from the other side: she left the tablet with her little brother Rory for five minutes, and Rory, pressing buttons like a happy woodpecker, bought a pack of gems. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/7/) — He is three. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/8/) — He cannot read. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/9/) — He still managed it. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/10/) — Their mum got the money back that time and switched on the purchase lock, and Ruby, who felt responsible because she had left him with it, stopped leaving him alone with a tablet that could buy things. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/11/) — Not everyone in the cast made mistakes by accident. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/13/) — She felt sneaky all evening, threw the paper away the next day without using it, and then — this was the brave part — told her dad. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/14/) — Noah's friend said «just use your mum's card, she won't notice». - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/15/) — Noah said no, and later heard that the friend's mum had noticed, very much. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/16/) — Mia's dad showed her a bank statement with page after page of tiny game charges her big brother had made: £1.99, £0.99, £4.99, again and again. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/17/) — Seeing the list made the money feel real. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/18/) — Some families make it work with clear rules. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/20/) — When Jayden bought something without asking, he told his mum before she found it, and she was much calmer than if she had discovered it herself. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/21/) — Zara's dad asked her to pay back what she had spent from her pocket money, and it took six weeks. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/22/) — Kai, who had spent «only two pounds», asked why his mum was upset. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/23/) — «It's not about the money,» she said, «it's about the asking.» - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/24/) — Coins and gems bought in a game are paid for with real money from a real bank account. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/25/) — A card saved on a tablet, phone or console can be used with one tap unless a password is required. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/26/) — Using someone's card without asking is taking their money, even if it is a parent's. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/27/) — Parents can set a password or lock so that every purchase needs their permission. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/28/) — Little children can buy things by pressing buttons at random on a device with a saved card. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/29/) — When a child buys something by mistake, parents can ask the shop for a refund, but the money does not always come back. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/30/) — Telling a parent about a purchase before they find it usually makes them calmer. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/31/) — Paying back money you spent without permission is a fair way to make things right. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/32/) — A clear family rule about buying, such as one purchase a month, prevents most arguments. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/33/) — A plan that only works if nobody notices is a bad plan. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/34/) — Bank statements show every purchase, so small game charges are always seen in the end. - ← previous: [Loot boxes and the surprise trap](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/) - next →: [Gift cards and birthday money: making it last](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/415-gift-cards-and-birthday-money/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)