---
title: Determine the meaning of the expression "fell short" as employed in… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Determine the meaning of the expression "fell short" as employed in respect of a team's attempt to reach a final. Exam question 4 of lesson 35 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupidity and madness» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Determine the meaning of the expression "fell short" as employed in respect of a team's attempt to reach a final.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, team · **What happens:** determine, fall, employ, reach, mean, respect · **To what, where:** meaning, respect, final, expression, attempt · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 35 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupidity and madness» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/35-mistakes-and-stupidity/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e4:1
# text = Determine the meaning of the expression "fell short" as employed in respect of a team's attempt to reach a final.
1	Determine	determine	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
9	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	's	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	attempt	attempt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	final	final	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | imperative | you *not said here* | the meaning of the expression |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  | short *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **employ** | participle |  |  |  | respect of a team's attempt |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | a final |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent final=Theme |
| 5 | **mean** |  |  | the expression |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **respect** |  |  | a team's attempt |  |  |  |  | nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **attempt** |  | a team |  |  |  |  |  | nom attempt «act transitive»: poss=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.

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The team failed to attain its objective

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e4:o1:1
# text = The team failed to attain its objective
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	failed	fail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	attain	attain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	objective	objective	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fail** | past | the team |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **not** **attain** | to-infinitive | the team *not said here* | team's objective |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent objective=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The team attained its objective with ease

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e4:o2:1
# text = The team attained its objective with ease
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	attained	attain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	objective	objective	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	ease	ease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attain** | past | the team | team's objective |  |  |  | with ease | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent objective=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The team fell to the ground during the final

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e4:o3:1
# text = The team fell to the ground during the final
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	during	during	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	final	final	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past | the team |  |  |  | during the final | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The team was of insufficient physical stature

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e4:o4:1
# text = The team was of insufficient physical stature
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	insufficient	insufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	physical	physical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	stature	stature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the team |  |  |  |  | of insufficient physical stature | 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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