depend upon, depend on and dependent upon

Question

Hi,I am confused about the usages of the phrases 'dependent upon', 'depend on' and 'depend upon'.For example, for the sentence below, which I found when I look up the phrase 'dependent upon' on the yahoo Korea website. I think the underlined part could use 'depend on' too.The charity is totally dependent upon money from the public.

Inchoateknowledge · Accepted Answer

dependent upon is an adjectival phrase

depend on = depend upon (more formal) is a phrasal verb

Phoenix PR · Answer

Hi Believer,

In American English, "on" and "upon" are used interchangeably. I would say all of the following are correct, but vary in their level of formality -- 1 being the most formal; 4 being the most informal.

The charity is totally dependent upon money from the public.
The charity is totally dependent on money from the public
The charity totally depends upon money from the public.
The charity totally depends on money from the public.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20040905/ai_n12557366 for James Kilpatrick's take on (or upon!) the matter. He's a noted newspaper columnist who often writes about grammar, punctuation, etc.

Anonymous · Answer

"The charity is totally dependent upon money from the public." - The charity is only functional if it has money from the public.

"The charity is totally dependent on money from the public." - The charity's existence is only because of money from the public.

"The charity depends upon money from the public." - The charity only functions if it has money from the public.

"The charity depends on money from the public." - The charity will come into existence only if there is money from the public.

None are grammatically incorrect, but they all have different nuances of meaning.

"A depends upon B" generally means "A relies on B."

"A depends on B" generally means "A is true only if B is true."

depend upon, depend on and dependent upon

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