--- title: Correlation is not cause: ice cream and sunburn — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Correlation is not cause: ice cream and sunburn», a lesson of the world course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: On hot days more ice creams are sold and more people get sunburnt, yet ice cream doesn't burn anyone: the sun does both. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/) [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/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/) / Correlation is not cause: ice cream an… # Correlation is not cause: ice cream and sunburn Lesson 180 of the world course of Mova's primary school: 20 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/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/1/) — On hot days more ice creams are sold and more people get sunburnt, yet ice cream doesn't burn anyone: the sun does both. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/2/) — So look for a hidden third cause. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/3/) — Older children have bigger feet AND read better, because they are older. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/4/) — Rich countries eat more chocolate AND do more science, because they are rich. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/5/) — Then check which way the arrow points: big fires get more firefighters and do more damage; hospitals are full of ill people because ill people go there to get better. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/6/) — And check what you forget: Dad remembers the rainy days after washing the car and forgets all the sunny ones. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/8/) — Love, it's the sun. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/9/) — The sun's doing both." - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/10/) — When two things happen together, one does not have to cause the other; grown-ups say "correlation is not causation". - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/11/) — Hot sunny weather causes both more ice-cream sales and more sunburn. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/12/) — Older children have bigger feet and have also had more years of reading practice; feet don't help reading. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/13/) — Big fires get more firefighters and also do more damage, while the firefighters reduce the damage; mixing up which way the cause goes is called reverse causation. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/14/) — Ill people go to hospital to get better, and hospitals help millions of people every year. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/15/) — Breakfast probably helps you concentrate, but families who make breakfast may differ in other ways too, so careful tests compare similar families. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/16/) — Smoking causes lung disease; a lighter is only a sign that someone might smoke. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/17/) — Washing a car can't change the weather; remembering only the times that match what you believe is called confirmation bias. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/18/) — A real 2012 article in a medical journal pointed out that countries eating more chocolate win more Nobel Prizes (the most famous prizes for science), partly as a joke; wealth explains both. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/19/) — Height depends mostly on the genes you get from your family, and also on good food and health while growing up. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/20/) — More people drown in summer because more people swim in hot weather; swimming where there are lifeguards matters far more than what you eat. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/21/) — Words people use: "sick" (young people) means great; "ace" means do really well at; "it's giving" means "it looks like"; "no cap" means honestly; "a Magnum" is an ice cream on a stick; "dreich" (Scotland) means grey, wet weather; "motor" (UK) means car; "togs" (Australia) means swimming costume; "heaps" (Australia, NZ) means lots. - ← previous: ["It's natural so it's healthy" and the miracle cure](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/179-its-natural-so-its-healthy-and-the-miracle-cure/) - next →: [Trick questions that catch quick thinkers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers/) - ↑ back to [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/)