--- title: Rival teams and the older bully — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Rival teams and the older bully», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Every May, Mill Lane Juniors play Station Road Rovers, and the Rovers' parents chant «Mill Lane, Mill Lane, can't play a game!» Mill Lane --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/) [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/) / Rival teams and the older bully # Rival teams and the older bully Lesson 472 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 28 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/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/0/) — Every May, Mill Lane Juniors play Station Road Rovers, and the Rovers' parents chant «Mill Lane, Mill Lane, can't play a game!» Mill Lane lose 4–1 and Sam misses a sitter (an easy chance to score). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/1/) — The captains still shake hands, as the rules say. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/2/) — Next year Mill Lane win 2–1 and Sam scores. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/3/) — A rival is someone you compete against, not someone you hate. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/4/) — Sam's swimming rival Dev beats him by half a second every gala, so Sam trains at 6am three times a week; at the county gala he wins by a fingertip, and Dev says, «About time, mate.» - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/5/) — A bully is different. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/6/) — Big Gaz from Year 8 grabs Sam's new ball at the rec (the recreation ground, a public park) and boots it into the river: «Go fetch, little man.» It floats towards the weir, a low wall across the river where water pours over and pulls hard. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/7/) — Sam does not go in. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/8/) — He goes home and tells his dad, who sees Gaz's mum, and Gaz has to buy a new ball, sulking. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/9/) — Older bullies count on silence. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/11/) — The school excludes the boy and he pays it all back. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/12/) — An older girl at the bus stop calls Mia «baby» every morning; ignoring her for a month only makes it worse, so Mia tells the bus driver, who makes the girl sit at the front. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/13/) — At that bus stop, Mill Lane kids and the St Mary's lot trade rude names every afternoon, until someone throws a bottle and a boy gets cut; a joke rivalry has turned dangerous. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/14/) — When a big boy snatches her little brother's hat, Lily tells him to give it back, and he does — but she still tells the teacher on duty, in case it happens again. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/15/) — In netball a girl keeps pushing Maddie behind the umpire's back; the one time Maddie shoves back, the umpire sees it and sends Maddie off. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/16/) — Sometimes the bully is in the family, or even a grown-up. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/17/) — Jake's cousin Dylan, thirteen, holds the remote over his head every Sunday until Jake's auntie tells him to pack it in (stop it). - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/18/) — At the cup final, a dad from the other team screams at Connor after a clean tackle; the referee warns the dad, and the coach tells Connor, «That's on him, not you.» And temper can be its own enemy: Jake boots the goalpost after a bad penalty and breaks his big toe. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/19/) — Six weeks on crutches. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/21/) — A bully picks on someone again and again on purpose, often someone smaller or younger. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/22/) — Water near a weir pulls very hard and is dangerous; never go into a river after a ball. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/23/) — Bullying by older children is a job for grown-ups; telling a parent or teacher is the right move. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/25/) — Ignoring a bully sometimes works, but if it gets worse, tell someone in charge. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/26/) — Being bigger or older does not give anyone the right to bully, even in a family. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/27/) — Grown-ups can behave badly at sport too; their shouting is not the child's fault. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/29/) — Throwing things turns a joke school rivalry into a dangerous one. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/30/) — Standing up for a younger brother or sister is good, and telling a grown-up as well is better. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/472-rival-teams-and-the-older-bully/31/) — Kicking things in anger can break bones; losing hurts less than a broken toe. - ← previous: [The kid who has it in for you](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/471-the-kid-who-has-it-in-for-you/) - next →: [The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)