--- title: Honesty with money: too much change and the found wallet — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Honesty with money: too much change and the found wallet», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Money that comes to you by mistake, or that you find, is not yours just because you have it: it still bel --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/) [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/) / Honesty with money: too much change an… # Honesty with money: too much change and the found wallet Lesson 95 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 21 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/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/0/) — Money that comes to you by mistake, or that you find, is not yours just because you have it: it still belongs to someone. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/1/) — The shopkeeper gives Ruby £5 too much change and her mate says, "Result! - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/2/) — Keep it"; but in many shops the cashier has to make up the missing money, so it may come out of a real person's pay. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/3/) — "Finders keepers" is a playground saying, not a rule: the Bible says to give back what your neighbour has lost (Deuteronomy 22:1-3), and in many places found money should be handed in; if nobody claims it after a while, it is often given back to the finder. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/4/) — Honesty with money also means not hiding problems when you sell something, not taking from people who can't notice, and using money for what it was given for. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/5/) — A famous story says young Abraham Lincoln walked miles to return a few cents to a customer, which helped earn him the name "Honest Abe". - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/6/) — "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15); "The Lord detests dishonest scales" (Proverbs 11:1). - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/7/) — In many shops the cashier has to make up missing money, so too much change may come out of their own pay. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/8/) — "Do the same if you find your neighbour's donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost" (Deuteronomy 22:1-3); "Keep it until they come looking for it, and then give it back" (Deuteronomy 22:2). - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/9/) — In a big 2019 study, researchers handed in 17,000 "lost" wallets in 40 countries, and more people returned wallets that had more money in them. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/10/) — In Judaism, returning lost property is a commandment. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/11/) — In Aesop's fable, the honest woodcutter said only the iron axe was his and was given all three; a greedy neighbour claimed the golden one and lost his own; fables are invented stories with a lesson. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/12/) — A machine has an owner, so keeping a machine's mistake profits from someone's loss. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/13/) — Money paid into your account by mistake is not yours; banks will ask for it back, and the honest thing is to tell them. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/14/) — Whoever finds lost property and lies about it must return it and add a fifth (Leviticus 6:2-5). - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/15/) — "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much" (Luke 16:10-11): using money for what it was given for builds trust. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/16/) — If Gran says "keep the change", telling her how much is left makes it an honest gift; being open about money stops mix-ups in families. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/17/) — Taking from someone who can't notice, like a little child, is still taking, and many think it's worse because they trust you. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/18/) — "Do not put a stumbling block in front of the blind" (Leviticus 19:14): when you sell something, tell the buyer about problems that affect their safety. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/19/) — Money given at church is held in trust for the people it helps, so churches count it with two people; Ananias and Sapphira's story shows how seriously the first church took money given to God (Acts 5:1-11). - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/95-honesty-with-money-too-much-change-and-the-found-wallet/20/) — Slang check: "result!" means great luck; "minted" means rich; "a fiver" is a £5 note; "pet" (North East England) means love; "dodgy" means not working properly. - ← previous: [Why cheating hurts the cheat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/94-why-cheating-hurts-the-cheat/) - next →: [Honest money: earning, raising and paying fairly](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/96-honest-money-earning-raising-and-paying-fairly/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)