--- title: How to handle gossip: is it true, is it kind, would I say it to thei… — how Mova does on the tests · Adult life description: Lesson 49 of the adult life course of Mova's primary school: 8 of 12 tests right, exam 2 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Adult life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/) / 49 # How to handle gossip: is it true, is it kind, would I say it to their face **Tests:** 8 of 12 right · **Exam:** 2 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★★ · **Understood:** 9 of 16 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 49 of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/). Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/). ### Test 1 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t1} Your mate in the chat: "omg everyone's sayin Ryan nicked the money, he's such a thief" You know nobody saw anything. Best reply? - **1.** Tell his mum he's a thief — no support - **2.** Yeah he totally did, send it round — no support - **3.** We don't know who took it, leave it to Miss — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **4.** Let's search his bag at break — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 7, line 14: «A subscription keeps taking money every month until it is cancelled, and free trials often turn into payments.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «money» (+4); the same action «take» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t1/) ### Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t2} Group chat: "ben's baby pic lmaooo send it to the whole year 😂" Ben didn't agree. What is fair? - **1.** Don't share it, it's his picture to share — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** Share it, he was only a baby then — no support - **3.** Share it only if it's really funny — no support - **4.** Share it, but delete it again after a day or two — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t2/) ### Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t3} Big brother, grinning: "It's not gossip, I'm just repeating what Kev said, innit." Put him right. - **1.** Repeating a rumour is spreading it — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **2.** It's fine if Kev is his mate — no support - **3.** It's fine if he says it quietly — score 2 - **4.** He's right, only Kev is gossiping — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 49, line 17: «"I'm just saying what I heard" and "I only told one person" are still spreading a rumour.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «spread» (+3); the same thing acted on «rumour» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t3/) ### Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t4} Your friend: "I only told Mia, swear!" Now the whole class knows Jess's secret. What happened? - **1.** Mia must have read Jess's diary — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Jess told everyone herself — no support - **3.** Telling one person is how it spread — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Secrets always come out on their own — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t4/) ### Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t5} In the playground: "Sophie was crying, her mum and dad must be splitting up." Which is true? - **1.** The divorce is a fact everyone can see — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Crying is a fact; the reason is a guess — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** Sophie's tears prove her parents argue — no support - **4.** Crying always means a family problem — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t5/) ### Test 6 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t6} The teacher: "Liking and sharing a nasty post about someone counts too." What is she saying? - **1.** Only writing a post yourself can ever be bullying — no support - **2.** Liking a post is always kind — no support - **3.** Sharing a cruel rumour online can be bullying — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 9 - **4.** Posts online don't count at school — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 9, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 49, line 18: «Sharing a cruel rumour online can count as bullying, even if you didn't write it, and people who gossip about everyone end up trusted by nobody.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «share» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same property (+2); the same thing acted on «cruel rumour» (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t6/) ### Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t7} Nan, stirring her tea: "There was a woman on our street who started every rumour. Nobody trusted her in the end." What happened to her? - **1.** She became the most popular woman there — no support - **2.** Everybody thanked her for the news — **← Mova's choice** · score 3 - **3.** She lost people's trust and friendship — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** She got a job at the newspaper — score 2 **Why:** It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 3, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 49, line 14: «Online is not the same as true: check where a story comes from and its date, and look for two trusted sources before sharing news; if you are not sure, "I don'…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t7/) ### Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t8} A boy, laughing at a classmate's old trainers: "But it's FUNNY!" The classmate isn't laughing. What is it? - **1.** Teasing, not a joke, if he isn't laughing — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **2.** Fine, because trainers aren't private — no support - **3.** A joke, as long as most people laugh — score 5 - **4.** Fine, because it is only words — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 41, line 17: «Some gossip is a shared joke, like a gnome sending postcards from Spain; it stays fun while the people in it are laughing too.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «shared joke» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t8/) ### Test 9 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t9} A girl at the gate: "Is it true about Mr Green getting sacked? You must know!" You've no idea. What's the best answer? - **1.** "I don't know" — that's allowed — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** Say yes, so you don't look silly — no support - **3.** Say no, and invent what really happened — no support - **4.** Make up a reason that sounds right — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t9/) ### Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t10} Kids whisper, "Josh's dad's in prison!" Josh comes into class. Who gets hurt by the rumour? - **1.** Josh, who now has to explain his family — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** The kids who started it — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **3.** Josh's dad, who is on an oil rig and won't hear — score 3 - **4.** Nobody, because Josh wasn't there — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 2, line 3: «Picture a house in Cork at lunchtime on a Saturday: the kids tiptoe past the bedroom door, whispering "Shh, Dad's on nights", because he drove a delivery lorry…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same doer «kids» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-3). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t10/) ### Test 11 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t11} Mum is about to tell her friend some news, then stops: "Not mine to tell." What does she show you? - **1.** Forgetting something halfway through — no support - **2.** That the news was a lie all along — no support - **3.** Keeping someone's news for them to share — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 12 - **4.** Being rude to her friend on the phone — score 12 **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 12, tied with another option at 12 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 49, line 9: «"It's not my story to tell" means keeping a friend's news for the friend to share.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «keep» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «news» (+2); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t11/) ### Test 12 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t12} Your mate: "Amira got full marks AGAIN, bet she copies." You saw her revising every lunchtime. What's the fair reply? - **1.** She worked hard, be glad for her — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** Copy her homework yourself next time — no support - **3.** Ask her to give you her answers — no support - **4.** Yeah, let's tell Miss she copies — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/t12/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓ {#e1} Identify the three questions which the lesson recommends be asked prior to the repetition of any account concerning another person. - **1.** Whether it is new, whether it is amusing, and whether it is brief — score 5 - **2.** Whether it is secret, whether it is shocking, and whether it is popular — no support - **3.** Whether it is written, whether it is signed, and whether it is dated — no support - **4.** Whether it is true, whether it is kind, and whether it is needed — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 11, line 2: «Some jobs grown-ups do themselves, which is called DIY, and some need a trained person like a plumber or an electrician, who is busy and costs a lot.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «trained person» (+4); the same action «need» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓ {#e2} Whereas a pupil asserts that he is "merely repeating what he heard", determine the correct characterisation of his conduct. - **1.** He is participating in the spreading of the rumour — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **2.** He bears no responsibility whatsoever for the rumour — no support - **3.** He is reporting a verified fact to his peers — no support - **4.** He is the sole originator of the rumour — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 49, line 17: «"I'm just saying what I heard" and "I only told one person" are still spreading a rumour.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «spread» (+4); the same thing acted on «rumour» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3} Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning an assertion transmitted through a succession of four intermediaries. - **1.** It is rendered more reliable by each additional intermediary through whom it passes — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** It is likely to have been altered at each stage of transmission — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** It may be verified only by the final intermediary — no support - **4.** It must be accepted once four persons have repeated it — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4} Ascertain the course of action which the lesson commends in respect of a secret confided by a classmate concerning her affections. - **1.** It ought to be exchanged for another secret — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** It ought to be disclosed to the person concerned — no support - **3.** It ought to be kept, out of respect for the trust shown — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** It ought to be announced to the entire class — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/49-how-to-handle-gossip/e4/) - ← previous: [48. Famous people are people: privacy, scams and kin…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/48-famous-people-are-people/) - next →: [50. Rumours about classmates and what to do with a s…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/50-rumours-about-classmates-and-secrets/) - ↑ back to [Adult life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/)