This is a follow-up to Script, Situation, Sandbox, and the way terms are being used here might be confusing if you haven't read that first.  Be told.

If you look really closely at the three-part breakdown of "things you're pitching at players" in that post, you'll naturally see that it has lots of fuzzy edges and border conditions.  So, let's do the 201 version, adding three more things:

BROKEN BACKDROPS

A broken backdrop is a mega-script or super-situation that sits at the top level of the fiction, but which the players aren't prompted to engage deeply at all, leading to the Big Thing being treated as the backdrop of the action instead.  The characters were supposed to stop the apocalypse, but instead treated it like it really was inevitable, and are now having fun at their mid-apocalypse adventures, while the GM occasionally looks at their broken backdrop and sighs.  Obviously, this is usually accidental, but I've played and run games where rolling along with it anyway was a blast.

SOFT SCRIPTS

A soft script has a clear end point the characters can go for, and a plan for progress along the line, but under the hood, the GM has notes that align more with "If the players go with the flow, do this, if not, here's a bunch of other material" than "These things are definitely going to happen".  It's a script, right?  Sure!  But if you scratch the walls, it becomes a situation almost instantly.  

This one can be a problem if the players don't know that the script is soft.  They may very well feel constrained by the expectation to go with the flow, and the GM might simultaneously feel like they're kind of an unengaged bunch; it's not catching their attention enough for them to go in new directions, after all!

If the players are very well aware that the script is soft (usually because the GM has made it clear that the script is always soft), then a soft script provides an option at the table.  Do you want to go with the flow and chew the scenery, or take hold of events and squeeze?  How exhausted are you guys from work this week, and how much do you want to mug it up and have a laugh, just go along and bash stuff, versus how much you want to start writing the future on your own, tonight?

Soft scripts are dandy.  Just, if you're writing soft scripts, make sure the players know.

SOFT SITUATIONS

A soft situation is set up like a situation, but the GM hasn't actually got a firm answer for "But why do the characters actually care?", which means that if the players aren't in a participatory mood, it actually just drops back into being sandbox material that's being passed by. 

Obviously, this is a problem if you've invested a fair bit of time in creating or presenting the situation, so if you're putting notable time into prepping a situation, make sure you've answered "Why will the characters care?" with serious attention.

Alternatively, though, you can create fast, small, low-concern situations that the characters really can just pass by, and flesh them out when and as they're engaged.  If you only have two lines written about why the merchants are shouting at each other and brandishing heavy things over their broken cart, it's fine if the characters just roll on past and wave.

...

This still isn't an exhaustive taxonomy of preparatory whatsits (and it's not really supposed to be), just hitting the biggest areas missing from the last round.

Okay, back about your business, again.