--- title: Sounds wrong, but is right — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Sounds wrong, but is right», a lesson of the world course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Some true answers sound so wrong that people laugh, until they check. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/) [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/) / Sounds wrong, but is right # Sounds wrong, but is right Lesson 182 of the world 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/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/0/) — Some true answers sound so wrong that people laugh, until they check. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/1/) — These puzzles teach the best habit there is: when your gut and the maths disagree, test it. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/2/) — Fence posts: a 10-metre fence with a post every metre needs 11 posts, because there is one at 0 as well as one at 10. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/3/) — Count the gaps and the posts separately; the same trap catches log cuts (4 pieces need only 3 cuts) and the snail in the well. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/4/) — Doubling grows wildly: fold paper and the layers go 2, 4, 8, 16... - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/5/) — After 7 folds there are 128 layers, a little paper brick. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/6/) — Chance surprises us too: a class of 30 has more than 400 different pairs of people, and any pair might match, so two people sharing a birthday is more likely than not. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/7/) — In the three-cups game, Leo's first pick is right only 1 time in 3, and his sister lifting an empty cup doesn't change that, so switching wins 2 times in 3. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/8/) — Leo: "No way, that's illegal." It isn't: play 30 rounds and count. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/9/) — In the three-cups game, if the helper knows where the sweet is and always lifts an empty cup you didn't pick, switching wins 2 times out of 3. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/11/) — In a class of 30 it is more likely than not that two people share a birthday, because there are more than 400 different pairs of people who could match. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/12/) — A 10-metre fence with a post every metre needs 11 posts: one at 0 metres and one at every metre up to 10. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/13/) — A snail in a 10-metre well that climbs 3 metres each day and slides 2 each night is 7 metres up after 7 days and nights, and climbs out on day 8. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/14/) — Cutting a log into 4 pieces takes 3 cuts; at 2 minutes a cut, that is 6 minutes. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/15/) — With socks of only two colours, 3 socks are always enough to be sure of a matching pair; grown-ups call this the pigeonhole principle. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/16/) — Every exact list of 10 fair coin flips, ten heads or any mixed list, has the same chance: 1 in 1,024. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/17/) — Each fold doubles the layers of paper: 7 folds make 128 layers and 10 folds would make 1,024, which is why ordinary paper is very hard to fold more than about 7 times. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/18/) — Lightning often strikes the same tall place again; the Empire State Building in New York is hit around 20 times a year. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/19/) — Words people use: "no way" means "I don't believe it"; "chilling" means relaxing; "my lover" (West Country) is a friendly "dear"; "proper job" (West Country) means well done; "bostin'" (Black Country) means brilliant; "deffo" (UK) means definitely. - ← previous: [Trick questions that catch quick thinkers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers/) - next →: [Sounds right, but is wrong](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/183-sounds-right-but-is-wrong/) - ↑ back to [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/)