Account for means to make up a share or part of a total, or to explain a cause. The first meaning comes up all the time when you describe charts: Students account for 40% of users. The second means to explain a fact or be its cause: The rain accounts for the delay.
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account for + % / part of a total; account for + fact/change (explain it)
- In 2022, online sales accounted for almost a third of the shop's income.
- The new motorway probably accounts for the drop in traffic through our village.
- Can you account for the extra costs in last month's budget?
What changed
First versionIn 2020, coal accounted 35% of the country's electricity.
RevisionIn 2020, coal accounted for 35% of the country's electricity.
In both meanings, for is required: accounted for 35%. Learners often drop it because the similar verb make up takes no preposition (coal made up 35%), and that pattern gets carried over to account. There is only one correction: add for after the verb.
In the meaning of a share, account for is close to make up: Women make up half of the team. Consist of lists what a whole is made of and says nothing about shares: The team consists of six engineers and a designer.
Your turn
Heavy rain in July may ___ the fall in tourist numbers that month.
Show the answer
account for — The rain explains why there were fewer tourists, so you need account for. Take into account means 'consider'. A person can consider something, for example a festival organiser, but rain can't consider anything.
Describe where your money goes in a month. Name your biggest expense and roughly what percentage of your spending it makes up.
Rent is my biggest expense and accounts for about 40% of my monthly spending.
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