fail
part of speech
verb (fail, fails, failed, failing); noun (fail, fails — informal: a failure)
meaning for a pupil
1) To fail means not to do what you tried or wanted to do. tree →
2) To fail a test is not to pass it. tree →
3) To fail means to stop working or to break down: the brakes failed. tree →
4) Never fail to means always: he never fails to say thank you. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths: tries that do not work are counted; the ones that pass = total − failed; failed + passed = all. In science: an experiment that fails still teaches us something. In life: everyone fails sometimes; try again and learn from mistakes. Phrases: fail a test, fail to, never fail to, without fail, power failure.
examples
- 3 of the 25 pupils failed the test. tree →
- He failed 2 of his 10 tries. tree →
- How many passed if 4 failed? tree →
- The seeds that fail to grow are thrown away. tree →
- The lights failed during the storm. tree →
- If you fail at first, try again. tree →
- He goes swimming every Saturday without fail. tree →
- Her plan to surprise Mum failed when Mum came home early. tree →
- So the Third Knight failed also. tree →
note
Noun «failure». Opposite: pass or succeed. Failed + passed = all. Trap: check whether the question asks for those who failed or passed. «Fail to» means did not do: he failed to notice.
In the corpora
- Sam got full marks on bot homework and then failed the test.
- Real predators hunt to eat, not out of anger or meanness, and many fail more hunts than they win.
- Kai changes his mind halfway through a book: that is not failing, it is reading well.
- The plan failed because he didn't think of the birds: one event causes the next.
- "Not yet" used as a grade (US) means fail.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «fail» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.