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# Fix Ask in plain words warnings and errors

> What each Ask in plain words status, note and error means in Mammoth, from Understood as and could not be confirmed to timeouts, and how to fix each one.
>
> Applies to: Where: View › Describe your transformation › AI Powered › Ask in plain words

While **Ask in plain words** writes a query, a status line shows its progress. Afterwards, notes under the prompt say what it understood or warn that the query may not match, and error messages explain a failed generation. For how to ask, see [Ask your data in plain words](https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/clean-and-shape/sql-with-ai/).

## What the status line shows

The messages vary with your request; extra ones appear if a query needs correcting.

| Phase | Status message |
| --- | --- |
| Start | Initializing..., then Starting SQL generation process... |
| Data | Preparing data and metadata... |
| Columns | Identifying relevant columns for your request... |
| Sample values | Fetching sample values for selected columns... |
| Writing | Creating SQL query based on your request... or Writing SQL query to match your request... |
| Testing | Testing query correctness... |
| Checking | Checking the result matches your request... |
| If needed | Correcting the query..., or Trying the query on your data (attempt 2)... |

When it finishes, the result shows in **Preview** and **Apply** turns on.

## Notes after generation: what Mammoth understood

After generation, the panel can show these notes:

| Note | What it means | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| "Understood as: Groups rows by property, ... and orders properties from highest to lowest total net revenue." | How Mammoth read your request | Check it matches what you meant. If not, rephrase and click **Generate** again. |
| "This query could not be confirmed to match your request, and it may not run. Review and test it before applying." | Mammoth wrote a query but couldn't confirm the results match. A reason may follow. | Click **Show the SQL** and review it, edit it, or generate again. A query with this warning is not previewed. |
| "This task moved after its query was generated, so its input columns can be different now. Generate the query again before you apply it." | The task changed position in the pipeline after generation | Click **Generate** again |
| "This task failed when the pipeline last ran: Column "Region" not found" | You are editing a saved task whose last run failed here | Fix the SQL using the message, then apply |

When you edit the SQL by hand, the **Understood as** line and the unconfirmed warning go away. The query is now yours.

## Error messages when generating SQL

| Message | What it means | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The "could not be confirmed" warning, with a reason under it such as "Query doesn't match intent" | Mammoth tried up to 3 times (the first query plus up to 2 corrections) and couldn't confirm the result matches. It stops sooner if a correction repeats a query that already failed. | Rephrase the request, or edit the SQL by hand |
| "Failed to generate SQL query" | The AI service request failed | Try again |
| "No SQL query was generated" | The AI returned an empty response | Try again or rephrase |
| "An error occurred while processing your SQL query" | An unexpected processing error | Try again |
| "Generating the SQL query took too long, so it was stopped. Try again." | Generation timed out | Try again, perhaps with a simpler request |

When Mammoth can't confirm a query, it still puts its last attempt in the editor with the warning above. Click **Show the SQL** to fix it, or rephrase and click **Generate**.

If the task runs but the result doesn't match what you meant, open it, make the request more specific, and compare the output on a few rows with what you expect.

## Related

- [Ask your data in plain words](https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/clean-and-shape/sql-with-ai/): ask, check and apply a query.
- [Write SQL by hand and reuse snippets](https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/clean-and-shape/sql-by-hand/): edit the query yourself.
- [Fix a failing step](https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/clean-and-shape/fix-a-failing-step/): when a SQL task errors.

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Source: https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/clean-and-shape/sql-with-ai-errors.md · Updated: 2026-11-08