---
title: News: "A computer glitch left 2,000 passengers stuck at the airport.… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: News: "A computer glitch left 2,000 passengers stuck at the airport." What caused the trouble? Test 1 of lesson 33 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's 
---

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# Test 1 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
News: "A computer glitch left 2,000 passengers stuck at the airport." What caused the trouble?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** computer glitch · **What happens:** leave, stick, cause · **To what, where:** 2,000 passengers, airport, trouble

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 of lesson 33 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* News: "A computer glitch left 2,000 passengers stuck at the airport."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t1:1
# text = News: "A computer glitch left 2,000 passengers stuck at the airport."
1	News	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	computer	computer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	glitch	glitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
7	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	2,000	2000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	passengers	passenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	stuck	stick	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	airport	airport	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** *in a quote* | participle | a computer glitch *not said here* | 2,000 passengers |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent passenger=Theme |
| 2 | **stick** *in a quote* | participle |  | 2,000 passengers *not said here* |  | the airport |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme at airport=Destination |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What caused the trouble?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t1:2
# text = What caused the trouble?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | past |  | the trouble |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition trouble=Patient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A strike by pilots

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t1:o1:1
# text = A strike by pilots
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	strike	strike	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	pilots	pilot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** |  | pilots |  |  |  |  |  | nom strike «act intransitive»: by=agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fault in the computers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t1:o2:1
# text = A fault in the computers
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fault	fault	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	computers	computer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Too many passengers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t1:o3:1
# text = Too many passengers
1	Too	too	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	passengers	passenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bad weather

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t1:o4:1
# text = Bad weather
1	Bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: religion a…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/32-religion-fate-failure/e4/)
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