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Law/Patents - Law (general) | | English term or phrase: give an account | Context: a letter from a British solicitor to their clients:
''I advised you that I had requested much more disclosure by the police, but that I had not been disclosed sufficient information for me to be satisfied that you should give an account. I advised you that there was no forensic evidence available; there was no CCTV evidence available;''
Does ''to give an account'' mean ''to testify, to allow oneself to be interviewed''?
Thank you |
| | | English translation:tell the (or your) story of what happened | Explanation:
I think you are right in general but there is no way from the words themselves to say if it means to testify per se, or even to be interviewed. However in the legal context, the meaning certainly seems to be that the solicitor had advised his client to keep his mouth shut (not say anything about what happened).
The account (story) could have been given to the media or other inerested parties. |
| Selected response from:
 Stephanie Ezrol
United States
Local time: 21:18
| Grading comment Thank you, Stephanie!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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| Discussion entries: 0 |
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Automatic update in 00:
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36 mins confidence:   peer agreement (net): +4 tell the (or your) story of what happened
Explanation:
I think you are right in general but there is no way from the words themselves to say if it means to testify per se, or even to be interviewed. However in the legal context, the meaning certainly seems to be that the solicitor had advised his client to keep his mouth shut (not say anything about what happened).
The account (story) could have been given to the media or other inerested parties.
| Stephanie Ezrol
United States
Local time: 21:18
Native speaker of:  English
PRO pts in category: 20
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The translation workplace 
