--- title: Lies that grow: one lie needs three more — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Lies that grow: one lie needs three more», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: They asked for an autograph. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/) [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/) / Lies that grow: one lie needs three more # Lies that grow: one lie needs three more Lesson 430 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 35 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/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/1/) — They asked for an autograph. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/3/) — They asked when he'd be back. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/4/) — «Secret mission.» Then a mate checked the team list online: no uncle. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/5/) — For the rest of the year the class called him «Secret Mission». - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/6/) — That is how a lie grows. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/7/) — Every lie needs a bodyguard of new lies, because people ask the next question. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/8/) — Freya said she was at Amy's house; Mum rang Amy's mum, so it was Amy's gran's; which gran? - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/9/) — «The other one.» Freya was really at the park after dark, and Mum drove there and found her. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/10/) — «One week grounded for the park, one for the lies.» - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/11/) — Jake in Manchester swapped his bus pass for sweets and told Mum he'd lost it. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/12/) — «On the bus.» Which bus? - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/13/) — «The 86.» Nothing was handed in — and then Mum saw a girl from his class using a pass with Jake's photo on it. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/14/) — «Our kid,» said Mum, «you dug a hole and then built a house in it.» («Our kid» is Manchester and Liverpool talk for a brother, sister or your own child.) Hamza said his 4 out of 10 was a 9; Mum wanted it on the fridge, so «the teacher kept it»; Dad wanted to email the teacher to say well done — and Hamza told the truth before Dad pressed send. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/15/) — Mum said the 4 was fine. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/16/) — The 9 was the only thing that made her sad. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/17/) — Some lies grow into nonsense. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/19/) — Theo skipped football for «a cold»; the coach saw him at the cinema, so it was «a cinema for sick people». - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/20/) — The coach laughed so hard he forgot to be angry — but Theo was still benched. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/21/) — Wee Callum in Glasgow said he'd scored a hat-trick, and Dad was so chuffed (pleased) that the story reached the club newsletter. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/22/) — He was in goal,» said the coach. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/23/) — Dad said: «I'd rather a true save than a fake goal, ya numpty.» - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/24/) — Ava, new at school and wanting friends fast, showed a photo of «her horse» at Grandpa's farm; a girl did a reverse image search and found the photo on a horse-riding website. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/25/) — Sam said his project was at school, then «in the teacher's cupboard», until the teacher said «What project? - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/27/) — The moment you notice you are inventing a second lie is the best moment to stop: «Nah, I made that up.» The way out of a hole is to stop digging. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/28/) — A lie usually needs more lies to protect it, because people ask the next question. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/29/) — A story that keeps changing is the classic sign of a lie. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/30/) — Each new lie makes the truth harder and more embarrassing to tell. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/31/) — Many claims can be checked: team lists online, a phone call to a parent, a reverse image search for a photo. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/32/) — A reverse image search finds where a picture on the internet came from. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/33/) — Buying time with lies («I'll bring the note tomorrow») makes the trouble bigger every day. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/34/) — A lie told to one person can travel far, even into a club newsletter. - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/35/) — When caught, inventing an even bigger story makes things worse, not better. - [36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/36/) — Parents can help with a bad mark; they cannot help with a faked good one. - [37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/37/) — You don't need invented things, like a horse or a famous uncle, to be liked. - [38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/430-lies-that-grow-one-lie-needs-three-more/38/) — The earliest moment to stop a lie is the easiest one. - ← previous: [The forged signature and how it always ends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/429-the-forged-signature-and-how-it-always-ends/) - next →: [When the story falls apart](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/431-when-the-story-falls-apart/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)