---
title: Boss on the phone: "The meeting went sideways, the client walked out… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Boss on the phone: "The meeting went sideways, the client walked out." How did the meeting go? Test 12 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 12 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Boss on the phone: "The meeting went sideways, the client walked out." How did the meeting go?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Boss, client, meeting · **What happens:** go, walk out

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 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/#t12).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Boss on the phone: "The meeting went sideways, the client walked out."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t12:1
# text = Boss on the phone: "The meeting went sideways, the client walked out."
1	Boss	boss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
2	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	meeting	meeting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	sideways	sideways	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	client	client	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
15	out	out	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** *in a quote* | past | Boss on the phone |  |  |  |  | sideways *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **walk out** *in a quote* | past | the client |  |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* How did the meeting go?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t12:2
# text = How did the meeting go?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	meeting	meeting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · do-support | the meeting |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody came

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t12:o1:1
# text = Nobody came
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was moved to a new room

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t12:o2:1
# text = It was moved to a new room
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	moved	move	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | past · passive |  | It |  | a new room |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme to room=Trajectory |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Very well

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t12:o3:1
# text = Very well
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Badly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t12:o4:1
# text = Badly
1	Badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	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: failure an…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t11/)
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