---
title: Ascertain the reason most probably accounting for divergent casualty… — Elections, crime, the weather, breakin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the reason most probably accounting for divergent casualty figures in initial reports of an incident. Exam question 4 of lesson 52 «Elections, crime, the weather, breaking news and news vs opinion» of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics o
---

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# Exam question 4 · Elections, crime, the weather, breaking news and news vs o…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the reason most probably accounting for divergent casualty figures in initial reports of an incident.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, reason · **What happens:** ascertain, account, report · **To what, where:** reason, incident

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 52 «Elections, crime, the weather, breaking news and news vs opinion» 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/52-elections-crime-the-weather-breaking-news-and-news-vs-opinion/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:52-elections-crime-the-weather-breaking-news-and-news-vs-opinion:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the reason most probably accounting for divergent casualty figures in initial reports of an incident.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	5	advmod	_	_
5	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	accounting	account	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	divergent	divergent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	casualty	casualty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	initial	initial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	reports	report	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	incident	incident	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	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 reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **account** | gerund | the reason *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for divergent casualty figures in initial reports of a incident; probably *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **report** |  |  | a incident |  |  |  |  | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Early figures are provisional and subsequently corrected

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:52-elections-crime-the-weather-breaking-news-and-news-vs-opinion:e4:o1:1
# text = Early figures are provisional and subsequently corrected
1	Early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	provisional	provisional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	corrected	correct	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Early figures |  |  |  |  | provisional *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **correct** *speech: disagree* | participle | Early figures *not said here* |  |  |  |  | subsequently *property* | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One broadcaster has deliberately falsified its figure

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:52-elections-crime-the-weather-breaking-news-and-news-vs-opinion:e4:o2:1
# text = One broadcaster has deliberately falsified its figure
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	broadcaster	broadcaster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	deliberately	deliberately	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	falsified	falsify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	figure	figure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **falsify** | present · perfect · passive |  | One broadcaster |  |  |  | deliberately *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **figure** |  | broadcaster |  |  |  |  |  | nom figure «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two separate incidents have occurred simultaneously

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:52-elections-crime-the-weather-breaking-news-and-news-vs-opinion:e4:o3:1
# text = Two separate incidents have occurred simultaneously
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
2	separate	separate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	incidents	incident	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	occurred	occur	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	simultaneously	simultaneously	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occur** | present · perfect · passive |  | Two separate incidents |  |  |  | simultaneously *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Broadcasters select figures entirely at their own discretion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:52-elections-crime-the-weather-breaking-news-and-news-vs-opinion:e4:o4:1
# text = Broadcasters select figures entirely at their own discretion
1	Broadcasters	broadcaster	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	select	select	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	discretion	discretion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | present | Broadcasters | figures |  | Broadcasters's own discretion |  | entirely *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent figure=Theme |

<!-- 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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