--- title: Nice alone, mean in a group — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Nice alone, mean in a group», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: On the walk home Chloe's friend Bella is lovely: shares her sweets, asks about Chloe's nan. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/) [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/) / Nice alone, mean in a group # Nice alone, mean in a group Lesson 468 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 30 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/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/0/) — On the walk home Chloe's friend Bella is lovely: shares her sweets, asks about Chloe's nan. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/1/) — At school, in front of the popular girls, the same Bella says, «Ew, why are you following me?» «Bestie, you look sooo good today,» she tells Chloe one morning — then to the others, «Lol did you see her shoes, they're giving charity shop.» Chloe's real friend Aisha hears it and tells her. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/2/) — Chloe feels like she has two friends with the same face. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/3/) — A friend who is kind only in private, and mean when there's an audience, is called a frenemy — half friend, half enemy. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/4/) — Kieran and Sam are mates on the street. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/6/) — «It's just banter, innit,» he says afterwards — banter means jokey teasing. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/8/) — Another week Kieran pretends not to know Sam when the cool kids appear, and Sam does exactly the same back next time, out of revenge. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/9/) — Neither feels good. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/10/) — They sit on the wall and admit it's daft. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/11/) — Mia's friend Harper is sweet at sleepovers, then posts Mia's sleepover photo in the cool kids' group chat with crying-laughing emojis. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/12/) — Mia asks her to take it down. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/13/) — «Chill, it's a joke,» says Harper — and deletes it only after Mia's mum talks to Harper's mum. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/14/) — Lily's friend Grace is nice one-to-one, but when Maddie's around Grace whispers and they both giggle and look at Lily. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/16/) — In Dundee, Lily's cousin says her friend Kirsty is «pure sound» on her own but «a right nippy sweetie» in a group. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/17/) — In Scots «pure sound» means really nice and a «nippy sweetie» is someone sharp-tongued. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/20/) — Connor's «best mate» Ryan is only his mate at home; at school Ryan's gang calls him «Con-fused». - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/21/) — Connor's mum says, «A friend who's embarrassed to be seen with you isn't the friend you need, love.» Maddie notices her friend Ellie ignores her whenever the netball team's around; she tells Ellie, and Ellie, who hadn't noticed, says sorry and starts saying hi even with the team. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/22/) — And Lily's mum admits there's a woman at work who's sweet in the kitchen and moans about her in meetings: «Grown-ups have frenemies too, pet.» - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/23/) — A frenemy is someone who acts like a friend in some places and unkind in others. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/25/) — Compliments to your face and mean comments behind your back mean the friendship isn't real. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/26/) — Teasing is only banter if everyone, including the person teased, is laughing. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/27/) — Saying calmly and privately «I don't like it when you do that in front of them» gives a real friend the chance to stop. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/28/) — Paying a frenemy back with the same unkindness usually makes two frenemies and two unhappy people. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/29/) — Sharing someone's private photo to laugh at them is not a joke; ask for it to be removed and tell a grown-up. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/30/) — Asking a friend directly whether they were laughing at you can bring out the truth, because sometimes a friend is being used against you. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/31/) — Sometimes people don't notice how they change in a group, and telling them can fix it. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/32/) — A coach or teacher can help when someone is kind in one place and unkind in another. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/33/) — You deserve friends who are proud to be seen with you; clubs and other groups can help you find them. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/34/) — Grown-ups have frenemies too; spotting one is a skill for life. - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/35/) — «Banter» is British for jokey teasing; in Scotland «pure sound» means really nice, a «nippy sweetie» is a sharp-tongued person, and «ken» means «you know». - ← previous: [Friends through games and clubs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/467-friends-through-games-and-clubs/) - next →: [The copier and the one who competes at everything](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)