1. A method for handling faults encountered while executing a vector instruction in a processor, comprising: receiving the vector instruction, wherein the vector instruction uses at least one vector of values that includes N elements as an input; receiving a predicate vector that includes N elements; and executing the vector instruction, wherein executing the vector instruction involves: for each element in the vector of values for which a corresponding element in the predicate vector is active, performing an operation for the vector instruction for the element in the vector of values, wherein performing the operation involves masking faults for illegal operations performed for any elements in the vector of values.