1. A method for handling faults in a processor, comprising: receiving an input vector, a control vector, and a predicate vector, each vector comprising a plurality of elements; for a first element of the input vector for which corresponding elements of the control vector and the predicate vector are active, performing a scalar read operation using an address from the element of the input vector; and when a fault condition is encountered while performing the read operation, determining if the corresponding element of the control vector is the first active element of the control vector; and if so, processing the fault; otherwise, masking the fault.