---
title: Ascertain the course of conduct most conducive to the wellbeing of a… — Scary news: wars, disasters and how to… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the course of conduct most conducive to the wellbeing of a child who has been distressed by repeated reports of war. Exam question 4 of lesson 51 «Scary news: wars, disasters and how to talk about them» of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmat
---

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# Exam question 4 · Scary news: wars, disasters and how to talk about them

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the course of conduct most conducive to the wellbeing of a child who has been distressed by repeated reports of war.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, repeated reports · **What happens:** ascertain, distress, repeat, report · **To what, where:** course, child, war

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 51 «Scary news: wars, disasters and how to talk about them» of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the course of conduct most conducive to the wellbeing of a child who has been distressed by repeated reports of war.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	conducive	conducive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	wellbeing	wellbeing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	distressed	distress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	amod	_	_
20	reports	report	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the course of conduct |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic |
| 2 | **distress** | present · perfect · passive | repeated reports of war | a child |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |
| 3 | **repeat** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **report** |  |  | war |  |  |  |  | nom report «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The concealment of his distress from his parents

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them:e4:o1:1
# text = The concealment of his distress from his parents
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	concealment	concealment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	distress	distress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conceal** |  |  | his distress |  |  |  | from his parents | nom concealment «state transitive»: of=patient from=obl |
| 2 | **distress** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom distress «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cancellation of all enjoyable activities indefinitely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them:e4:o2:1
# text = The cancellation of all enjoyable activities indefinitely
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cancellation	cancellation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
5	enjoyable	enjoyable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	activities	activity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
7	indefinitely	indefinitely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cancel** |  |  | all enjoyable activities |  |  |  |  | nom cancellation «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A respite from the news, together with reassurance and comfort

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them:e4:o3:1
# text = A respite from the news, together with reassurance and comfort
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	respite	respite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	together	together	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	reassurance	reassurance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	comfort	comfort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The continuous monitoring of news reports by the child throughout the night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them:e4:o4:1
# text = The continuous monitoring of news reports by the child throughout the night
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	continuous	continuous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	monitoring	monitoring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	reports	report	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
10	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **monitor** |  | the child | news reports |  |  | throughout the night |  | nom monitoring «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent throughout=obl |

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Scary news: wars, disasters and how to…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them/e3/)
- next →: [Elections, crime, the weather, breakin…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/52-elections-crime-the-weather-breaking-news-and-news-vs-opinion/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Scary news: wars, disasters and how to talk about them](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them/)