--- title: Starving, a million times and a ton: everyday hyperbole — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Starving, a million times and a ton: everyday hyperbole», a lesson of the language course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Hyperbole (say it hy-PER-bo-lee) means making something sound much bigger, longer or heavier than it really is, o --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/) [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/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/) / Starving, a million times and a ton: e… # Starving, a million times and a ton: everyday hyperbole Lesson 44 of the language course of Mova's primary school: 16 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/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/0/) — Hyperbole (say it hy-PER-bo-lee) means making something sound much bigger, longer or heavier than it really is, on purpose, to show a strong feeling. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/1/) — When Leo bursts in after school shouting «Mum I'm STARVING, I haven't eaten in like a hundred years», nobody counts a hundred years: he had lunch at twelve, and he simply means «I'm really hungry». - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/2/) — The trick is to split what is said into two parts: the feeling, which is real, and the number or size, which is made up. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/3/) — Mum's «I've told you a MILLION times» has a made-up number, but she really is cross. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/4/) — When you need the true size, look for the evidence: the clock, the scales, the worksheet, the phone. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/5/) — The clock beats the feeling. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/6/) — Hyperbole is exaggeration on purpose: saying something is far bigger, longer, heavier or worse than it is, to show how you feel. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/7/) — «I'm starving» three and a half hours after a full school lunch means «I'm quite hungry»; a piece of fruit until tea is the right-sized answer. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/8/) — In «I've told you a million times» the number is made up (maybe ten or twenty times), but the annoyance is real, so the towel goes on the hook. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/9/) — A ton is about a thousand kilograms, as heavy as a small car; a heavy school bag is perhaps five kilograms, so «it weighs a ton» means «it's too heavy». - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/11/) — «Forever», «a thousand years» and «a bajillion hours» are not times you can measure; «bajillion» and «gazillion» are made-up words for «loads», not real numbers. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/12/) — «Literally» is often used just to make words stronger, as in «I was literally flying»; people have used it like this for a long time, and it does not make the words true. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/14/) — «My back's killing me» means it aches from work; pain that is very bad, sudden or does not go away is different, and the grown-up should see a doctor. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/15/) — In Scotland «chuckin' it doon» means raining very hard, «oot» means out, and «soaked tae the bone» means very wet, not hurt. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/16/) — «A mountain of clothes» is a big messy pile; the size word is the telling-off, so arguing «it's only knee-high» misses the point. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/44-starving-a-million-times-and-a-ton-everyday-hyperbole/17/) — When you need a real number, count or check: fifteen sums at about two minutes each take about half an hour, and a nan's «gazillion texts» can be counted on the phone. - ← previous: [Pan, panic and Ulysses: the old myths and old words inside «The Wind in the Willows»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/43-pan-panic-and-ulysses-the-old-myths-and-old-words-inside-the-wind-in-the-willows/) - next →: [Dead, a mile long and everyone: more everyday hyperbole](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/45-dead-a-mile-long-and-everyone-more-everyday-hyperbole/) - ↑ back to [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/)