--- title: Fighting fair: no straw men, no moving goalposts, no either-or — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Fighting fair: no straw men, no moving goalposts, no either-or», a lesson of the world course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Arguing is fine; arguing unfairly is the problem. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/) [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/) / Fighting fair: no straw men, no moving… # Fighting fair: no straw men, no moving goalposts, no either-or Lesson 189 of the world 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/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/0/) — Arguing is fine; arguing unfairly is the problem. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/1/) — Three unfair moves turn up in every family, classroom and playground. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/2/) — The straw man: twist what someone said into something sillier, then attack that. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/3/) — Mum says "less screen time on school nights"; Tom hears "never have fun again". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/4/) — Mum: "Less, Tom. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/5/) — Not 'banished to a cave'." - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/6/) — Moving the goalposts: every time the test is met, demand a harder one. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/7/) — Kai wants a photo of a ghost, then a video, then "real life"; Ruby changes the hide-and-seek rules every time she loses until there's no hiding at all. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/8/) — The either-or: pretend there are only two choices ("Either you feed the hamster or he starves!") when there is a rota on the fridge, literally right there. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/9/) — Fair fighting is simple: say back what the other person really said ("Do you mean...?"), agree what would change your mind before you start, and look for the middle options. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/10/) — A straw man repeats the other person's idea as something more extreme or sillier, then attacks that instead. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/11/) — Arguing fairly means repeating what the other person really said, then saying why you disagree. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/13/) — Moving the goalposts means changing what counts as proof each time the test is met. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/14/) — Agree what would change your mind before you argue; blurry photos and videos are easy to fake, so a good test is one that others can repeat. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/15/) — An either-or (false dilemma) gives two options when there are more, such as half and half, taking turns, or a rota. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/16/) — You can criticise a thing without attacking a person: "the pizza could be hotter" is not "your mum's a bad cook". - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/17/) — Every pet needs daily care: cats need food, water, a litter tray and visits to the vet. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/18/) — A fair reply answers the real point; for school uniforms, one real point on the other side is that uniforms can be expensive for some families. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/19/) — Being scared of one thing doesn't mean being scared of everything; fears are specific. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/20/) — Agree the rules of a game before it starts; if you want a change, it starts next game. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/189-fighting-fair-no-straw-men-no-moving-goalposts-no-either-or/21/) — Words people use: "rota" (UK) means a list of whose turn it is; "literally" is often used to mean "really, obviously"; "eh" (Canada) means "right?"; "toque" (Canada) means a woolly hat; "bud" (Canada) means mate; "chur" (New Zealand) means thanks, cheers; "y'all" (US South) means you all; "fixin' to" (US South) means about to. - ← previous: [Check the claim, not the person](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/188-check-the-claim-not-the-person/) - next →: [Saying "I was wrong" and laughing without being cruel](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/190-saying-i-was-wrong-and-laughing-without-being-cruel/) - ↑ back to [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/)