Viet lai cau & giu nguyen nghia
- Bắt đầu Matilda Wormwood
- Ngày bắt đầu
Phạm Thủy Anh
(anhthuy)
New Member
I will also vote for the " how do you account for the difference between two witnesses" option.
I think the point here is just to make sure we understand that "account for" is equivalent to "tell" or "explain", so all we need to do is to replace "tell" with "account for". This is a pretty common phrasal verb in spoken English.
account for
1. To constitute the governing or primary factor in: Bad weather accounted for the long delay.
2. To provide an explanation or justification for: The suspect couldn't account for his time that night.
source: dictionary.com
I think the point here is just to make sure we understand that "account for" is equivalent to "tell" or "explain", so all we need to do is to replace "tell" with "account for". This is a pretty common phrasal verb in spoken English.
account for
1. To constitute the governing or primary factor in: Bad weather accounted for the long delay.
2. To provide an explanation or justification for: The suspect couldn't account for his time that night.
source: dictionary.com
Chỉnh sửa lần cuối:
Võ Thanh Trọng Nhân
(BabyDino)
New Member
Hi miss Anh,
It's sure interesting to discuss English exercises with you
I'll use the definitions of "account for" you've cited.
Let's consider the original sentence first.
How do you tell the difference between the two witnesses' stories? = How do you distinguish between the two witnesses' stories? (Please see my previous posts)
"To tell the difference" means "to distinguish." The sentence simply means "tell me the different details in the two stories."
Now let's consider your sentence.
How do you account for the difference between the 2 witnesses' stories?
account for
1. To constitute the governing or primary factor in: Bad weather accounted for the long delay.
2. To provide an explanation or justification for: The suspect couldn't account for his time that night.
I suppose you use the sencond definition. Exactly this shade of meaning means "to explain or give a reason (justification) for sth," as in the example "The suspect couldn't account for his time that night," the suspect was supposed to give a reason for his time that night but he failed; or as in the example from my dictionary "We have to account for every penny we spend on business trips," "we" have to give a reason for the money we spend. "The suspect" and "we" in the two examples are both expected to give the reasons.
So your sentence "How do you account for the difference between the two witnesses' strories?" means "How do you give a reason for the difference between the two witnesses' strories?" which also inadvertently means you are expected to explain why they are different, and thus it seems semantically different from the original one.
On the contrary, the noun "account" with the meaning of "description" or "story" is used quite commonly when it comes to witnesses having to tell the police what they've witnessed.
account (n) a written or spoken description of sth that has happened: She gave the police a full account of the incident. * The diaries contained detailed accounts of the writer's experiences in China. (from OALD)
Personally I often guess what the testing point is before doing an exercise, and the testing point of this exercise is supposedly whether the takers know a shade of meaning of the noun "account," which is "description" or "story."
Anyway, I think we're merely exchanging ideas in here. Only the host can say what the correct answer is
It's sure interesting to discuss English exercises with you
I'll use the definitions of "account for" you've cited. Let's consider the original sentence first.
How do you tell the difference between the two witnesses' stories? = How do you distinguish between the two witnesses' stories? (Please see my previous posts)
"To tell the difference" means "to distinguish." The sentence simply means "tell me the different details in the two stories."
Now let's consider your sentence.
How do you account for the difference between the 2 witnesses' stories?
account for
1. To constitute the governing or primary factor in: Bad weather accounted for the long delay.
2. To provide an explanation or justification for: The suspect couldn't account for his time that night.
I suppose you use the sencond definition. Exactly this shade of meaning means "to explain or give a reason (justification) for sth," as in the example "The suspect couldn't account for his time that night," the suspect was supposed to give a reason for his time that night but he failed; or as in the example from my dictionary "We have to account for every penny we spend on business trips," "we" have to give a reason for the money we spend. "The suspect" and "we" in the two examples are both expected to give the reasons.
So your sentence "How do you account for the difference between the two witnesses' strories?" means "How do you give a reason for the difference between the two witnesses' strories?" which also inadvertently means you are expected to explain why they are different, and thus it seems semantically different from the original one.
On the contrary, the noun "account" with the meaning of "description" or "story" is used quite commonly when it comes to witnesses having to tell the police what they've witnessed.
account (n) a written or spoken description of sth that has happened: She gave the police a full account of the incident. * The diaries contained detailed accounts of the writer's experiences in China. (from OALD)
Personally I often guess what the testing point is before doing an exercise, and the testing point of this exercise is supposedly whether the takers know a shade of meaning of the noun "account," which is "description" or "story."
Anyway, I think we're merely exchanging ideas in here. Only the host can say what the correct answer is
Chỉnh sửa lần cuối: