---
title: Ascertain the approximate number of persons who at present lack safe… — Cities: why they grow, and how water a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the approximate number of persons who at present lack safe drinking water within the home. Exam question 4 of lesson 73 «Cities: why they grow, and how water and sewers made them safe» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question a
---

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# Exam question 4 · Cities: why they grow, and how water and sewers made them…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the approximate number of persons who at present lack safe drinking water within the home.

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 73 «Cities: why they grow, and how water and sewers made them safe» of the history 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/history/73-cities-why-they-grow-and-how-sewers-made-them-safe/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:73-cities-why-they-grow-and-how-sewers-made-them-safe:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the approximate number of persons who at present lack safe drinking water within the home.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	approximate	approximate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	acl:relcl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	drinking	drinking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
14	within	within	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	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 approximate number of persons |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Approximately two billion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:73-cities-why-they-grow-and-how-sewers-made-them-safe:e4:o1:1
# text = Approximately two billion
1	Approximately	approximately	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	compound	_	_
3	billion	billion	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No persons whatsoever at the present time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:73-cities-why-they-grow-and-how-sewers-made-them-safe:e4:o2:1
# text = No persons whatsoever at the present time
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Approximately two thousand persons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:73-cities-why-they-grow-and-how-sewers-made-them-safe:e4:o3:1
# text = Approximately two thousand persons
1	Approximately	approximately	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	compound	_	_
3	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Approximately two hundred million

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:73-cities-why-they-grow-and-how-sewers-made-them-safe:e4:o4:1
# text = Approximately two hundred million
1	Approximately	approximately	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	compound	_	_
3	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	compound	_	_
4	million	million	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

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

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**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.

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- ← previous: [Cities: why they grow, and how water a…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/73-cities-why-they-grow-and-how-sewers-made-them-safe/e3/)
- next →: [Cities then and now: the biggest citie…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Cities: why they grow, and how water and sewers made them safe](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/73-cities-why-they-grow-and-how-sewers-made-them-safe/)