---
title: The film director writes back: "Thanks, but we've decided to go in a… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: The film director writes back: "Thanks, but we've decided to go in a different direction." What does the actor learn? Test 9 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 
---

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# Test 9 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The film director writes back: "Thanks, but we've decided to go in a different direction." What does the actor learn?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** film director, we, actor · **What happens:** write back, decide, go, learn · **To what, where:** Thanks, different direction

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This is test 9 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The film director writes back: "Thanks, but we've decided to go in a different direction."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t9:1
# text = The film director writes back: "Thanks, but we've decided to go in a different direction."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	film	film	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	director	director	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	writes	write	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Thanks	thanks	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	've	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	decided	decide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write back** | present | the film director |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **decide** *in a quote* | present · perfect | we | Thanks *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: agent=Agent thanks=Co-Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **go** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  | a different direction |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in direction=Location |

<!-- .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 does the actor learn?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t9:2
# text = What does the actor learn?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	actor	actor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	learn	learn	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 | **learn** | present · do-support | the actor |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He got the part

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t9:o1:1
# text = He got the part
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | He | the part |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer part=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He must travel abroad

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t9:o2:1
# text = He must travel abroad
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	travel	travel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	abroad	abroad	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **travel** | must | He |  |  |  |  | abroad *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The film is set on a road trip

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t9:o3:1
# text = The film is set on a road trip
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	film	film	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	trip	trip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | present · passive |  | the film |  | a road trip |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme on trip=Destination |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He did not get the part

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t9:o4:1
# text = He did not get the part
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **get** | past · do-support | He | the part |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer part=Stimulus |

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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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