liar
part of speech
noun (a liar, liars)
meaning for a pupil
1) A liar is a person who tells lies, saying things they know are not true to trick someone. tree →
2) Calling someone a liar means you think they are not telling the truth. tree →
sense in the lessons
In lessons on truth, lies and tricks, «liar» teaches that people who lie lose trust; in stories like «The Boy Who Cried Wolf» nobody believes the liar when the truth matters. Calling someone a liar is a strong, rude thing to say, so it is better to say «I don't think that's true». Phrases: «a terrible liar» (bad at lying), «a big liar», «liar, liar, pants on fire» (a playground rhyme).
examples
- The boy who cried wolf was a liar, so nobody came to help. tree →
- Don't call your sister a liar; ask her what happened. tree →
- He is a terrible liar; he always goes red. tree →
- A good friend is not a liar. tree →
- Nobody believed the liar when he finally told the truth. tree →
- The detective worked out who the liar was. tree →
- Liar, liar, pants on fire! shouted the children in the story. tree →
- "You are an impudent liar!" cried the genius. tree →
note
Spelled «-ar», not «-er» (a common spelling trap). Verb «lie, lied, lying» (tell an untrue thing); do not mix with «lie, lay, lain» (to lie down). Saying something wrong by mistake does not make you a liar; a liar knows it is untrue.
In the corpora
- Calling someone a liar or a drunk is rude, so people reach for softer words.
- Some lies hurt the liar most.
- «All politicians are liars» is an exaggeration; some lie, some don't, and many do a mix.
- A check isn't only for catching liars.
- Noah felt stupid — but the shame belongs to the liar, not to the person who trusted.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «liar» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.