---
title: News: "After the failure of its app, the company announced an exciti… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: News: "After the failure of its app, the company announced an exciting pivot." What really happened? Test 3 of lesson 34 «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; M
---

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# Test 3 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
News: "After the failure of its app, the company announced an exciting pivot." What really happened?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** News, app · **What happens:** announce, fail, happen · **To what, where:** exciting pivot

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 34 «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/34-failure-and-mistakes/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* News: "After the failure of its app, the company announced an exciting pivot."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t3:1
# text = News: "After the failure of its app, the company announced an exciting pivot."
1	News	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	After	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	failure	failure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	app	app	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
13	announced	announce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	exciting	exciting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	pivot	pivot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **announce** *speech: other* *in a quote* | past | News and the failure of its app and the company | a exciting pivot |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pivot=Theme |
| 2 | **fail** *in a quote* |  | its app |  |  |  |  |  | nom failure «act intransitive»: of=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:* What really happened?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t3:2
# text = What really happened?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	really	really	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The company closed forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t3:o1:1
# text = The company closed forever
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **close** | participle |  | the company *not said here* |  |  |  | forever *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The company's first plan failed and it changed plan

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t3:o2:1
# text = The company's first plan failed and it changed plan
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	amod	_	_
5	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	failed	fail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
10	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fail** | past | the company's first plan |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **change** | past | plan | plan |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plan=Patient |
| 3 | **plan** |  | the company |  |  |  |  |  | nom plan «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The company built a spinning app

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t3:o3:1
# text = The company built a spinning app
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	amod	_	_
6	app	app	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | the company | a spinning app |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset app=Product |
| 2 | **spin** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The company's app was a big hit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t3:o4:1
# text = The company's app was a big hit
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	app	app	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	hit	hit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the company's app | a big hit |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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