Use of "depend on" and "depending on"

Some new examples

His success in the interview depends on the interviewer.

He could do well in the interview, depending on the interviewer.

To understand the difference between depends in sentence (1) and depending on in sentence (2), we need to understand the grammar of the sentences.

In sentence (1) depends is a verb. It is the main verb in the sentence. The subject of depends is the noun phrase, his success in the interview.

In sentence (2) the main clause in the sentence is:

He could do well in the interview

The main verb phrase in that clause is could do. The subject is he. The part at the end of sentence (2), depending on the interviewer, gives us extra information. It is not essential for the grammar, or for the meaning. This means that it is an adjunct. It is extra.

In sentence (2) depending on the interviewer is a preposition phrase. In this sentence depending looks like a verb - but it is not! It is a preposition. This preposition takes another preposition on as a complement. In example (2), the complement of on is the interviewer. This gives us one big preposition phrase:

depending on the interviewer.

The Original Poster's question

We use depending on to add on extra information to a sentence or clause. We use the verb depend when we need to use a verb.

The Original Poster's examples both need the preposition construction depending on/upon. This is because they are adding extra information to a full clause. I have put the main clause in brackets, [ ], below:

[ The family name may appear on the left side or the right side of the door ] depending on which floor you are on.
[ A careful driver watches the road and goes slowly or quickly ] depending upon the condition of the road.

The part in bold tells us what the situation in the main clause depends on. We can divide the sentences into two parts, so that we have two sentences for each example:

[The family name may appear on the left side or the right side of the door ]. This depends on which floor you are on.
[ A careful driver watches the road and goes slowly or quickly ]. This will depend upon the condition of the road.

In the examples above, the word this refers to the situation which we described in the first sentence. The word this is the subject of the second sentences. So this time we use the verb depend not the preposition depending.

Hope this is helpful!

Araucaria - Not here any more.

Posted 2014-12-22T12:29:18.663

Reputation: 25 536

Do you need to put a comma before depending？It seems better to understand if there is. – Xiang Yu – 2018-07-21T09:33:03.553

Not to disagree (because I do agree with your answer), but I'm not sure if it's safe enough to call depending a preposition. I believe that CGEL (which I don't have) analyzes this kind of phrase as a PP (prepositional phrase, not very sure about the -al part, though), but maybe they avoid calling depending a preposition right out. – Damkerng T. – 2014-12-22T18:29:45.717

@damkerng, Alas I don't have it with me either. But I think I remember it correctly. I believe they class it as a prep, but am not sure. Will check when I get back:) Thanks! – Araucaria - Not here any more. – 2014-12-22T19:03:57.423

Nice post. :) -- But perhaps you could demonstrate that it is a PP by easily moving it about in the sentence, which would show it not linking to a subject (which that phrase would need if it were a VP), via an edit in your post? – F.E. – 2014-12-22T19:43:54.253

Oh, just wanted to make sure, that my last example sometimes doesn't need a comma, e.g. "Tom sat in a chair reading a book", or "Tom sat quietly in a corner reading a book". – F.E. – 2014-12-22T20:20:33.330

@F.E. I went a bit further than I'd have liked in being too technical in this post - and not far enough at the same time ... How about asking a more specific question? – Araucaria - Not here any more. – 2014-12-22T22:51:15.767

1@F.E. ... and maybe someone else will answer it :) Might use the X-mas break to do a few of those posts that really, really are very overdue ;) – Araucaria - Not here any more. – 2014-12-22T23:04:42.773

1@DamkerngT. It seems that H&P don't actually discuss depending. However, they do discuss similar prepositions such as according in the prepositional construction according to as well as the prepositions owing and pertaining which both also take prepositional complements headed by to. The preposition depending also seems to be very similar to the prepositions barring, excluding, failing, providing, given, regarding, following and so forth. Cf pp. 564, 610-611 if you get a chance to look at a copy of CaGEL. :) – Araucaria - Not here any more. – 2014-12-23T04:21:49.583

1@Araucaria Thank you very much for the info. If only I had a copy of CGEL... :-) – Damkerng T. – 2014-12-23T04:25:23.650

2The first sentence isn't syntactically valid. You could fix it by inserting ", which" after *name* (making a comma-delimited non-restrictive relative clause). Or by inserting *it* after the existing comma (which would then be better as a full stop, semicolon, or dash, since what follows is then an independent clause with its own subject and predicate. – FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica – 2014-12-22T16:54:42.930

1The first one isn't continuous, it isn't a verb old bean! – Araucaria - Not here any more. – 2014-12-22T18:20:46.443

@Araucaria I meant 'continued' (not in the context of 'tenses'). – Maulik V – 2014-12-23T05:10:05.247

Use of "depend on" and "depending on"

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