Meaning of allowing for

[Wind]

Test No. incompl/advan-83 "GMAT Verbal Quiz (6)", question 5

......... for his age and he is after all only 12, I think his achievement is remarkable.

(a) Permitting
(b) Discerning
(c) Allowing
(d) Regarding

Test No. incompl/advan-83 "GMAT Verbal Quiz (6)", answer 5

Allowing for his age and he is after all only 12, I think his achievement is remarkable.

Correct answer: (c) Allowing

Your answer was: incorrect
Regarding for his age and he is after all only 12, I think his achievement is remarkable.
_________________________

What dose it mean 'Allowing for his age...' ?

thanks

[Rosko1234]

I think that "allowing his age" could also be seen as "given his age". Here is an example.

Given his age and he is after all only 12, I think his achievement is remarkable.

This tells us that taking his age in consideration and he is very young, only 12, his achievement is remarkable.

Your answer, regarding, would not work because regarding and for do not go together. Allowing for is Ok and this is why it is the correct answer.

It takes some time to learn that there are very specific rules about what prepositions come with specific words. The bind between the a word and a preposition could significantly change the original meaning of the word.
A popular example is that of the word look.

look at, look for, look into, look about

The word look has a specific meaning, however the words with a preposition have a significantly different meaning.

[Rich7]

Congrats.. to you rosko 1234, it couldn't get better than this.

I take it you've been learning or should I say teaching English for quite some time now, the way you wonderfully explained the above, I wouldn't have done it better.

I hope you stick around for a while

[Torsten]

[Rosko1234]

Thank you for the nice words.
I have in fact taught English for about only six months. On the other hand I have studied at an American university and the experience helped me improve my language skills. Given that I had to write long papers very often it helped me learn the language better. In fact, I think that writing is the best way to learn English.

Thanks again,
ciao

[Rich7]

Does the preposition "for" give a different meaning in this sentence?