“依賴的”是“dependent”還是“dependant”？別再寫錯啦！

In British English:

Dependent means reliant on.

A dependant is a person (usually a child or a spouse).

In American English, you can use dependent for both.

在英式英語中：

Dependent的意思是“依賴”。

Dependant是指人，通常指“家眷、家屬”，也就是子女或者配偶。

而在美式英語中，dependent兩個意思都有。Dependant并不在美式英語中使用。

Dependant /di'pend?nt/

A dependant is a person who is dependent on someone else. (For example, a child is dependent on its parents. Therefore, a child is a dependant of its parents.)

Dependant是指一個依賴于他人的人。(比方說，兒童是依賴于他的父母的，那么兒童就是他父母的家眷。)

Example:

All embassy staff and their dependants must be at the airport by 6 o'clock.

所有使館工作人員及其家屬必須在6點前到達機場。

(In this example, the word dependants means spouses and children.)

(在這個例子中，dependants就是指配偶及子女。)

Dependent /di?pend?nt/

The word dependent is an adjective meaning contingent on, relying on, supported by, or addicted to.

Dependent是一個形容詞，意思是依靠的，依賴的、支持的或沉迷的。

Example:

It is largely dependent on the weather.

這多半取決于天氣情況。

To remember which is the noun form, notice how the word “ant” is hiding in “dependant.” “Ant” is a noun just like a “dependant” is. If you have trouble figuring out if the word is a noun or an adjective, try plugging the word “people” into its place. If it still mostly makes sense (you might have to try the word “person” as well for it to sound better), then it’s a noun and you should use the spelling “dependant” for proper British English.

為了能分清這兩個單詞，首先我們要記住哪一個是名詞。需要你注意的是單詞dependant的結(jié)尾是ant，而ant恰恰就如dependant一樣是一個名詞?；蛘吣阍诰渥又幸姷竭@個詞無法想起它到底是哪個意思時，可以把people替換掉原來那個詞，看看句子是否通順，當然person也是可以的。這一切區(qū)別的意義都必須是在英式英語之中，美式英語中就沒有這些問題了。