---
title: A bank says: "Due to human error, some customers were charged twice.… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: A bank says: "Due to human error, some customers were charged twice." What happened? Test 4 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 choice was
---

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# Test 4 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A bank says: "Due to human error, some customers were charged twice." What happened?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** bank · **What happens:** say, charge, happen · **To what, where:** customers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A bank says: "Due to human error, some customers were charged twice."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t4:1
# text = A bank says: "Due to human error, some customers were charged twice."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Due	due	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	9	case	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	error	error	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	customers	customer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	charged	charge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
15	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a bank |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **charge** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | some customers |  |  |  | due human error; twice *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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 happened?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t4:2
# text = What happened?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A worker made a mistake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t4:o1:1
# text = A worker made a mistake
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	worker	worker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | a worker | a mistake |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset mistake=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Customers made a mistake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t4:o2:1
# text = Customers made a mistake
1	Customers	customer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | Customers | a mistake |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset mistake=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A machine broke on purpose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t4:o3:1
# text = A machine broke on purpose
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	machine	machine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | past | a machine |  |  | purpose |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on purpose=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing went wrong at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t4:o4:1
# text = Nothing went wrong at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Nothing |  |  | all |  | wrong *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at all=Location |

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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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t3/)
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