--- title: Finders keepers and what belongs to whom — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Finders keepers and what belongs to whom», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Children in the playground often shout "finders keepers, losers weepers", but a lost thing does not stop belonging to its --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/) [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/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Finders keepers and what belongs to whom # Finders keepers and what belongs to whom Lesson 42 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 19 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/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/0/) — Children in the playground often shout "finders keepers, losers weepers", but a lost thing does not stop belonging to its owner just because you found it. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/1/) — Picture finding a wallet with forty pounds and an address card inside: somewhere a person is turning out their pockets in a panic, and you are the one who can end that worry. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/2/) — The commandment "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15) covers more than grabbing things: keeping extra change, borrowing without asking, copying someone's work and using what was stolen are all ways of taking what is not yours. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/3/) — Christians believe everything is a gift from God and we are caretakers of it, so we treat other people's things as carefully as we would want ours treated, which is the Golden Rule. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/4/) — Some cases are hard and people disagree, such as a starving person taking bread; a good answer says taking is wrong but also asks why it happened and what mercy and fairness need. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/5/) — Something lost still belongs to its owner, even if you are the one who found it. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/6/) — "You shall not steal" is one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:15). - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/7/) — Exodus is one of the five books of the Torah, so Jews and Christians share the Ten Commandments. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/8/) — If a found thing has a name or address, the right thing is to return it whole, with nothing taken out. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/9/) — Whether the owner is rich or poor does not change whose the thing is. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/10/) — If money is found with no name and no way to find the owner, it is best to hand it to an adult, a teacher or the police; what to do after that is disputed, and some people give it to charity. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/11/) — Keeping too much change that a shopkeeper gave by mistake is a way of taking what is not yours. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/12/) — Borrowing without asking takes away the owner's right to say no, even if you give the thing back. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/13/) — Copying a game, film or song without paying takes away the money its makers earned by their work. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/14/) — Copying someone's homework is unfair to the person who did the work and stops you from learning. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/15/) — If you think a friend has stolen something, you have a duty to act, starting by talking to them or a trusted adult. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/16/) — In the novel Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is sent to prison for years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's hungry children. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/17/) — Taking is wrong, but people disagree about how much need and mercy should change the punishment (disputed). - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/18/) — The Bible teaches care for the poor, for example by letting the hungry gather leftover grain at the edges of fields (Leviticus 19:9-10). - ← previous: [Dilemmas about truth and friendship](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/) - next →: [Sharing and fairness](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/43-sharing-and-fairness/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)