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Pb03 Posted 18 years ago
Vocabulary

meaning of a sentence ?

Hello everyone,

I don't understand the meaning of a sentence which is underlined below, especially the part in bold.

What is the meaning of the sentence and the phrase 'select for'?

If you have any ideas about them, would you please give some comments?

Thanks a lot for taking your time~ ^^

pb

ex)

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is the governing maxim
here; antibacterial chemicals select for bacteria that can endure their presence.
  

Top answer

This sentence means that antibacterial chemicals allow bacteria that are able to survive them to grow, while preventing the rest from growing. In this way, the chemicals "select" certain bacteria to succeed.

— Anonymous

  • This sentence means that antibacterial chemicals allow bacteria that are able to survive them to grow, while preventing the rest from growing.
  • In this way, the chemicals "select" certain bacteria to succeed.
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2 Answers
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This sentence means that antibacterial chemicals allow bacteria that are able to survive them to grow, while preventing the rest from growing. In this way, the chemicals "select" certain bacteria to succeed.
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Yes. It's as anonymous has explained above. The reference is to the principle of natural selection -- an important concept in evolution. An environment is said to 'select for' those organisms which can survive in that environment. If you wish, you can think of 'select for' as meaning 'choose in favor of (the survival of)'. Of course, there's no actual choosing going on; it'
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