Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
A dependant is a person who is dependent on something else. Or in other words, dependant is the noun form, while dependent is an adjective.
But you can be forgiven for your confusion, as 'ant/ent' suffixes are somewhat difficult. The tendency is for the noun forms to have the 'ant' suffix: coolant, accountant, entrant, tenant, etc. But there are still a number of nouns that use 'ent', such as resident or respondent. Conversely, amongst adjective forms, there's a slight tendency toward 'ent' forms, but there's lots of each: flamboyant, ignorant, reticent. I think the main determiner as to which suffix is correct is how and when the word made its way into the english language.
When there are two words that are the same except for the ending, however, I think it's always true that the 'ant' form will be the noun (person) and the 'ent' form will be the adjective. Another example of this would be confidant (noun), confident (adjective).
One that always confuses me is compliment complement.
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Again, it is more the noun versus the verb concept. If you give a
compliment, you are saying something nice about that person. For instance, 4x4 can text very well while driving.
Complement means to enhance. So for instance, many people would say that the flavor of mushrooms in
complemented by the addition of onion and garlic.