--- 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 34 «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/34-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 34 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school with their options, 95 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/34-failure-and-mistakes/). - [t1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t1/) — A school letter: "We regret to inform you that your application was unsuccessful." What does the family learn? — wrong ✗ - [t2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t2/) — "Oi, you dropped a right clanger telling Gran about her surprise party!" What did the person do? — right ✓ - [t3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t3/) — News: "After the failure of its app, the company announced an exciting pivot." What really happened? — right ✓ - [t4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t4/) — "Our school play was a total damp squib, half the audience left." How did the play go? — wrong ✗ - [t5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t5/) — Ben says: "'Teething problems' means a baby is getting teeth, so the new bus has babies on it?" Is he right? — right ✓ - [t6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t6/) — The minister on TV: "Mistakes were made, and lessons have been learned." What is she admitting? — wrong ✗ - [t7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t7/) — "he says he misremembered the size of the fish lol, it was a goldfish" What really happened? — right ✓ - [t8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t8/) — "Footie match? Could've gone better. We lost 5–0." How did the match go? — right ✓ - [t9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t9/) — The film director writes back: "Thanks, but we've decided to go in a different direction." What does the actor learn? — wrong ✗ - [t10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t10/) — "Mum, I made a boo-boo — the cat's food went in the fish tank." How big is the mistake meant to sound? — right ✓ - [t11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t11/) — The robot fell over during the contest. "Back to the drawing board, team." What does the leader mean? — wrong ✗ - [t12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/t12/) — "Missed the open goal, that's an unforced error, you muppet!" Whose fault was the miss? — wrong ✗ - [e1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/e1/) — Whereas correspondence informs a candidate that the organisation "has decided to go in a different direction", identify the outcome conveyed thereby. — wrong ✗ · exam - [e2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/e2/) — Ascertain the meaning of the expression "a damp squib" as employed in respect of a public event in the United Kingdom. — right ✓ · exam - [e3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/e3/) — It is given that a public official asserts that he "misremembered" the circumstances of an occurrence. Which of the following most accurately characterises the likely import of this assertion? — wrong ✗ · exam - [e4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/34-failure-and-mistakes/e4/) — Determine the meaning of the term "teething problems" when applied to a newly installed system. — wrong ✗ · exam - ← previous: [33. Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/) - next →: [35. Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/35-mistakes-and-stupidity/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/)