--- title: Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes — the lesson's questions with trees and pragmatics · Euphemisms description: The 16 test and exam questions of lesson 33 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, each with its options, Mova's choice and the right answer, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/) / Soft words for hard things: failure an… # Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes The 16 questions of lesson 33 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school with their options, 92 sentences, every one parsed by Mova with its syntax tree and pragmatics. How the student did on them: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/). - [t1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t1/) — News: "A computer glitch left 2,000 passengers stuck at the airport." What caused the trouble? — wrong ✗ - [t2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t2/) — "Your homework shows room for improvement, Sam." What is the teacher telling Sam? — wrong ✗ - [t3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t3/) — "Mate, the barbecue went proper pear-shaped, sausages all burnt." What happened? — wrong ✗ - [t4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t4/) — A bank says: "Due to human error, some customers were charged twice." What happened? — right ✓ - [t5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t5/) — "I called my teacher 'Mum' — just a slip of the tongue, but everyone laughed." What happened? — right ✓ - [t6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t6/) — The minister calls the failed bridge project "a minor setback". What should a careful listener think? — wrong ✗ - [t7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t7/) — Tara says: "'The market had a correction' means it fixed its mistakes, yeah?" Is she right? — right ✓ - [t8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t8/) — "ugh, the whole plan went south when the car broke down" What happened to the plan? — wrong ✗ - [t9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t9/) — Report card: "Maths: below expectations." How is the pupil doing in maths? — right ✓ - [t10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t10/) — "Our team came a cropper in the final, lost 6–0. Not our finest hour, ha." How did the team do? — right ✓ - [t11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t11/) — "sorry I said 7 × 8 is 54, total brain fart, it's 56" What was the mistake? — right ✓ - [t12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t12/) — Boss on the phone: "The meeting went sideways, the client walked out." How did the meeting go? — wrong ✗ - [e1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/e1/) — In respect of an organisation's statement that a data loss was attributable to "human error", identify the meaning of the expression. — right ✓ · exam - [e2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/e2/) — Whereas a financial bulletin reports "a correction" in share prices, which of the following statements most accurately characterises the event? — wrong ✗ · exam - [e3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/e3/) — It is given that a pupil's report states that the pupil's written work "needs improvement". Ascertain the assessment conveyed thereby. — wrong ✗ · exam - [e4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/e4/) — Determine the meaning of the expression "gone pear-shaped" as employed colloquially in the United Kingdom. — wrong ✗ · exam - ← previous: [32. Soft words for hard things: religion and fate an…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/32-religion-fate-failure/) - next →: [34. Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/)