---
title: "ugh, the whole plan went south when the car broke down" What happen… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: "ugh, the whole plan went south when the car broke down" What happened to the plan? Test 8 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 8 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"ugh, the whole plan went south when the car broke down" What happened to the plan?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** whole plan, car · **What happens:** go, break down, happen

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This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t8:1
# text = "ugh, the whole plan went south when the car broke down" What happened to the plan?
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	ugh	ugh	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	south	south	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
13	down	down	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	_
15	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	nsubj	_	_
16	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** *in a quote* | past | the whole plan |  |  |  |  | south *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **break down** *in a quote* | past | the car |  |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  | to the plan | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It got better

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t8:o1:1
# text = It got better
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | It |  |  |  |  | good *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was finished early

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t8:o2:1
# text = It was finished early
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	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **finish** | past · passive |  | It |  |  |  | early *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It went wrong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t8:o3:1
# text = It went wrong
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They drove south

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t8:o4:1
# text = They drove south
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	south	south	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drive** | past | They |  |  |  |  | south *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |

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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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t7/)
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