Phrasal Verbs
- 1to be the explanation or cause of something synonym explain The bad weather may have accounted for the small crowd. Oh well, that accounts for it (= I understand now why it happened).
- 2to give an explanation of something synonym explain How do you account for the show's success? He was unable to account for the error.
- 3to be a particular amount or part of something The Japanese market accounts for 35% of the company's revenue. Language Bankproportiondescribing fractions and proportions
- According to this pie chart, a third of students' leisure time is spent watching TV.
- One in five hours is spent socializing.
- Socializing accounts for/makes up/comprises about 20% of leisure time.
- Students spend twice as much time playing computer games as playing sports.
- Three times as many hours are spent playing computer games as reading.
- The figure for playing computer games is three times higher than the figure for reading.
- The largest proportion of time is spent playing computer games.
- 1to know where someone or something is or what has happened to them, especially after an accident All passengers have now been accounted for. Three files cannot be accounted for.
- 2(informal) to defeat or destroy someone or something Our antiaircraft guns accounted for five enemy bombers.
to give a record of how the money in your care has been spent We have to account for every penny we spend on business trips.