Depends for

Question

Hi,
I have problems understand the sentence gramatically .And maybe because I didn't aware of the politics there. Maybe someone could help me out on that as well.

"The Netherland's recently elected minority government depends for survival on support from a Muslim-baiting populist."

First, why there are two verbs? Is "depends for..." a relative clause? And I don't usually hear people say,"depends for something". Is there a special meaning? And "on support" is another prepositon phrase like "for survival"?

Does this preposition phrase make the writer's idea be more specific? So instead of "government depends for survival," he actually means,"government depends for survival on support"?

Thanks

Clee62 · Accepted Answer

Hi again,

On the article i guoted there is a term I am not sure. "Muslim-baiting populist" Does it mean people represent or favor Muslim religion?

Thanks

Lakshwadeep · Answer

"elected" is not used as a verb but as an adjective (like "elected official"). "for survival" is a prepositional phrase that is acting as an adverb for the verb "depends". It is giving a reason (survival) for why the government is dependent on the populist. You're correct about "on support" being another prepositional phrase, which answers the question how the government is dependent on the populist.

Yes, the writer is being more specific by showing why and how the government depends on the "populist".

Lakshwadeep · Answer

Muslim-baiting comes from "race-baiting", or making verbal attacks about a specific racial group to make others angry or intimidated. The word "baiting" here means "taunting". A common example is a person from the majority race to blame crime on an entire minority race (or races), which then make others in the majority race upset and agree to laws/actions that often discriminate against the minority race.

At first I thought "populist", which can be a noun or adjective, meant "populace" (the country's people as a whole). Now, I think that it is talking about a single person who is a "populist", or a person part of a political party that claims to represent ordinary/common people.

So, someone who is a "Muslim-baiting populist" is trying to create anger and fear against Muslims by claiming to represent the ordinary people. It is important to notice that although the person is a populist, he/she believes Muslims are not part of the "ordinary people".

Clive · Answer

Hi,

It may possibly help you to consider simpler examples.
eg A baby depends for food on its parents.
eg A baby depends on its parents for food.

Clive

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