Account for

[Bobby4781360]

Hi ,I had a question .Would you please compare the meanings of the phrase "account for" in the examples follow :


1) Water accounts for 90% of the whole body.

2)Jane was upset because her son couldn't account for the three hours between his last class and his arrival at home

3)The heat wave accounts for all this food spoilage.

4)A large number of UN personnel in Haiti are unaccounted for .

As I looked that up in the dictionary.com I could only find two meanings for account for : 1)Explain (matches with example # 2)

2)cause ( matches with example # 3)


I do appreciate for productive replies in advance.

 

[rlfwood]

1) Water accounts for 90% of the whole body.

Here, "accounts for" means "makes up, comprises":
"Skype now accounts for 12% of all international calling."


4)A large number of UN personnel in Haiti are unaccounted for .

"Unaccounted for" in this case means "missing or absent without explanation":
"A Fort Worth woman's son is among thousands unaccounted for in Haiti."