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Sun 94 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Account for or accounting for
In the following sentence, can I use are accounting for instead of account for? If not, why can't I use present progressive here?
Although sales of the popular brand total $4.2 billion and Campbell's brands currently account for ( or are currently accounting for???) 80 percent of canned soup sold in the U.S, the company is facing declines in domestic sales.
Although sales of the popular brand total $4.2 billion and Campbell's brands currently account for ( or are currently accounting for???) 80 percent of canned soup sold in the U.S, the company is facing declines in domestic sales.
Top answer
No, the progressive won't work here. ] which last for some time are not used in progressive tenses.
- No, the progressive won't work here.
- ] which last for some time are not used in progressive tenses.
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2 Answers
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No, the progressive won't work here. Verbs which express states of being [stative verbs!] which last for some time are not used in progressive tenses.
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Account for is better, since it seems to be a point observation, i.e., the 80% figure is at a specific time on some sheet of statistics - just like the $4.2 billion (which is also in simple present: 'total'). Progressive is also possible, I suppose, but anyway, it sounds a little 'off' to me, a little unbusinesslike.
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