meaning of 'establish'

[silent]

hi,

i have had hard time trying to understand the meaning of 'establish' in this context:

'' The sorting office handles mail for the House and the Senate were attempting to establish if the workers came into contact with anthrax-laced letter sent to the Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle."

i hope you explain it to me...
thanks
silent

[Alan]

Hi Silent,

Establish has one or two meanings. It can mean create or start as in establish a business. In the example you gave it means to find out whether it's true or not. For example in a court of law in some countries there is a jury who try to find out the truth whether someone is guilty or not. They try to establish whether the accused person has committed a crime or not.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/bring