to fall through

[beachboy]

We originally had someone else attached for the project but he fell through.
Does it mean the person failed? Is it common to say that a person fell through? I thought fall through refers only to plans and other things, but not to people...

 

[philadelphia]

Not a teacher

As far as I'm concerned, one may "make it through" (succeed: eg "It was difficult but I made it through") or "go through" (undergo) or sometimes "fall through" (fail). TBC

 

[riquecohen]

We originally had someone else attached for the project but he fell through.
Does it mean the person failed? Is it common to say that a person fell through? I thought fall through refers only to plans and other things, but not to people...

I, too, have never heard fall through used in relation to a person. I imagine that it could mean that the person didn´t work out in a particular job. I agree that it usually refers to plans, projects, etc.

 

[SoothingDave]

It's not clear, but I read it that they had had this person lined up to work on the project, but then he got assigned elsewhere. So those plans "fell through."

 

[BobK]

It's not clear, but I read it that they had had this person lined up to work on the project, but then he got assigned elsewhere. So those plans "fell through."

:up: That's the way I read it too.

b

 

[philadelphia]

It's not clear, but I read it that they had had this person lined up to work on the project, but then he got assigned elsewhere. So those plans "fell through."

Not a teacher

I'd rather read it as follows: he got assigned elsewhere as he fell through [to do the project], so the project could fail too.