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HSS Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Account For

[1] 79% of people in Japan account for non-smoking.

[2] Non-smoking accounts for 79% of people in Japan

Would both be possible?

Hiro
  

Top answer

If you want to talk about people, you need to talk about "non-smokers" not non-smoking. "

— BarbaraPA

  • If you want to talk about people, you need to talk about "non-smokers" not non-smoking.
  • "
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5 Answers
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If you want to talk about people, you need to talk about "non-smokers" not non-smoking.

You can say "Non-smokers account for 79% of the people in Japan."
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Or you can say "79% of the Japanese are non-smokers"
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Couldn't we say, "79% of the people account for non-smoking in Japan," too?

Hiro
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79% of the people account for non-smoking in Japan.

Don't you think you are being long-winded even if the sentence is grammatically correct?
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You can't really use 'non-smoking' in this context as really you are talking about a lack of action. If you were saying 21% of people account for the cigarette smoking in Japan , it works, as they are actually doing something. But to say 'non-smoking' doesn't really make sense...can you follow what I mean? If 5% of people get run over by a car every year you wouldn't say that 95% of the people acc
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