dependant:

(also ‘dependent’; plural: ‘dependants‘)

a person who takes money, food and clothing, and/or any other support from another person, i.e. a person who depends on others,

(the couple has four dependants — two parents and two children)

e.g.

Since his father and mother died in a motor accident, Richard has been living with his grandparents as a dependant .

That man has three dependants/dependents to take care of.

When she got transferred to this place, Julia could not stay at any hotel because hotels were too expensive for her and she could not live in any working women’s hostel because of her two dependants — her mother and her son.

Language Usage: Confusion between ‘depedant’ and ‘dependent’ which have the same pronunciation: Strictly speaking, or rather writing, ‘dependant’, with an ‘a’ after “d”, is a noun and refers to a person, e.g. My brother is my dependant., and ‘dependent’, with an ‘e’ after “d”, is used as an adjective, e.g. Her passing the interview is dependent on her attitude. & He and his wife, though old and weak, work hard to feed their five dependent children. “Depend”, of course, is the verb form, e.g. My brother depends on me for his college tuition fee. & ‘dependency’, in this context, is the state or condition of being dependent on somebody or something.

Though the spelling ‘dependent’ is often used for “dependant”, the spelling ‘dependant’ is never used for “dependent”, i.e. as an adjective. For an excellent website page that shows us how to make out the difference between these two word, please click here, and please click here.

However, there should be consistency in using these two words, i.e. when this word is used as an adjective, it must be with the spelling ‘dependent’, with an ‘e’ after “d”, e.g. “dependent children”, “dependent visa”, etc., but when used as a noun, either ‘dependant’ or ‘dependent’ can be used, but not both in the same article, paragraph or purpose. For an article that mixes up this word used in its two different spellings for the same purpose — in the title/heading ‘dependant’ is used and in the paragraphs ‘dependent’ is used which is considered wrong, please click here.

For a simple but clear explanation, in which you see the usage of both ‘dependant’ and ‘dependent’, please click here, and for an article that has both ‘dependant’ and ‘dependent’ in it, which may be considered correct, though there is no consistency in the usage, because ‘dependent’, with an ‘e’ after “d”, is often used to refer to a person, please click here.
 

About the Author:BC Kumar

BC Kumar, an English Language Teacher, taught in numerous countries including Ethiopia, Oman and India, shares his knowledge and passion for the English Language. Disclaimer: This is a free educational website and all content has been compiled by the author. All copyrights to images and videos belong to their respective owners.

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