--- title: The copier and the one who competes at everything — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The copier and the one who competes at everything», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Every time Lily gets something new, Grace turns up with it the next day: the sloth hairclip, the glitter pencil case, t --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/) [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/) / The copier and the one who competes at… # The copier and the one who competes at everything Lesson 469 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 33 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/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/0/) — Every time Lily gets something new, Grace turns up with it the next day: the sloth hairclip, the glitter pencil case, the same trainers. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/2/) — Then in literacy Grace reads out a story about a dinosaur who opens a bakery — Lily's idea, from Tuesday. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/3/) — Now Lily is really angry. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/4/) — She shows the teacher her planning book with Tuesday's date on it; the teacher has a quiet word, and Grace goes pink and changes her story. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/5/) — Copying clothes can be a compliment. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/6/) — Copying someone's work and calling it yours crosses a line. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/7/) — Kieran competes with Sam at everything: who's taller, who runs faster, who has more Robux, who can burp the alphabet furthest, who finished his chips first. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/9/) — Again.» Sam is worn out. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/10/) — One day he just says, «You win, mate. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/11/) — I'm not playing.» With no race to win, Kieran gets bored of it within a week. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/12/) — Lily's friend Jess compares everything too: «My house is bigger. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/13/) — My dog's cuter. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/14/) — We went to Spain for two weeks, you only went to Wales.» Lily stops arguing and says, «OK, cool.» With nothing to fight, Jess runs out of things to compare — and then asks about Wales, for real. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/15/) — Some copying steals credit. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/16/) — Whenever the teacher asks a question, Mia whispers her answer to herself and Zoe, next to her, shouts it first: «Photosynthesis!» Zoe gets the house point every time — until Mia starts writing her answers down and putting her hand straight up, and the teacher starts saying, «Zoe, your own answer, please.» Sam shows Kofi a sneaky chess trap; a week later Kofi tells the club, «I literally invented this, it's called the Kofi.» Sam laughs: «Bruh, I showed you that last Thursday.» Kofi goes red, and the club calls it «the Sam-Kofi» from then on. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/17/) — Rivalry can turn dangerous. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/18/) — Jake and Connor both want to be top scorer; in practice Jake starts going in late on Connor's ankles. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/19/) — «Soz, slipped.» The third time, Connor limps off. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/20/) — The coach benches Jake for a match: «You don't hurt your own team to win.» In Singapore, Mia's cousin Wei has a classmate who holds out his hand every morning: «Homework. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/21/) — Can or not, ah?» — Singapore English for «Can I?». - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/22/) — Wei says no, politely. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/24/) — Letting someone copy doesn't help them learn. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/25/) — And when Chloe's little cousin copies every photo pose she does, Mum says, «She looks up to you, love,» so they do a silly photo together for Nan's fridge. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/26/) — Kieran copies Jake's haircut, trainers and walk, until Jake calls him «mini-me» in front of everyone; Kieran gets his own haircut, with a shaved line, and loads of people like it. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/27/) — Ellie borrows Maddie's spelling tricks «for luck» and wins the class round; Maddie says «well done» through her teeth, makes new tricks, keeps them to herself, and wins next term. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/28/) — Copying someone's clothes or style is often a sign of admiration. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/29/) — Copying someone's work or ideas and saying they are yours is not fair; keeping dated notes of your ideas helps show they were yours. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/30/) — If someone keeps taking your answers or ideas, a teacher can help without a big drama. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/31/) — You don't have to join every contest; stepping out often makes a rivalry fizzle. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/33/) — Competing is fine, but hurting a teammate to win is never fine. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/34/) — A light laugh can sometimes be enough to call out someone who takes credit for your idea. - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/35/) — Letting a friend copy your homework stops them learning and can hide that they need help. - [37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/469-the-copier-and-the-one-who-competes-at-everything/37/) — Losing with good grace and learning from it helps you get better, and rivals can push you to improve. - ← previous: [Nice alone, mean in a group](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/) - next →: [The friend who only calls when they need something](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/470-the-friend-who-only-calls-when-they-need-something/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)