In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. The adverse (1)__________ of climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly driving human mobility the world over, particularly in countries with high exposure and low (2)__________ capacity. While most climate-related mobility currently occurs within countries, desperation and deteriorating environments can also compel people to seek a livelihood elsewhere through (3)__________ migration. While climate change negatively impacts everyone, everywhere, those already in vulnerable situations due to geography, poverty, gender, age, disability, origin, or other status, including migrant women who (4)__________ climate-sensitive livelihoods, and children who are less able to survive extreme weather events, are at the greatest risk of suffering harm. It is (5)__________ to recognise this reality and take meaningful action to protect the human rights of those most affected by climate change, including migrants.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4.
- (a)depend from
- (b)depend on
- (c)depend at
- (d)depend in
Answer
Why
Correct — B. All four options carry the same verb, so the item tests one thing only: which preposition depend takes.
Depend on — or the more formal depend upon — is the fixed pairing for relying on something: migrant women who depend on climate-sensitive livelihoods.
No rule derives this. The partner preposition is fixed by usage, which is why at and in simply do not follow depend → option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)depend from — Depend from survives only in an archaic literary sense, to hang down from — a lamp depending from the ceiling. It cannot carry the meaning rely on that the sentence needs.
- (c)depend at — At marks a point in space or time — at the door, at noon. It never links depend to the thing being relied on.
- (d)depend in — In marks containment — in the report, in April. Depend in is not English, and the reliance sense here needs on or upon.
Concept
Verb-and-preposition pairs are collocations: fixed by usage, not worked out from the meanings of the parts.
You cannot reason your way to depend on any more than to insist on, consist of or comply with. They are learnt as units, and a wrong preposition is heard as an error even when the sentence is otherwise perfect.
When a cloze offers one verb four times with four prepositions, the passage is not being tested at all. Name the verb, recall its partner, mark it and move on — the reading time belongs to the other blanks.
Key facts
- Depend takes on or upon: depend on the monsoon, depend upon circumstances.
- Related pairs worth learning together: rely on, insist on, consist of, comply with, differ from.
- Depend from means to hang down from and is archaic outside literary use.
Study next
Common traps
- Re-reading the passage when the four options differ only in the preposition
- Choosing depend in because in feels natural before an abstract noun like livelihoods
A cloze set will sometimes turn one blank into a pure collocation test, as at 25 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.25, where the options are calling for, calling on, calling at and calling from.
The standalone version asks you to replace a wrong particle instead, as at 13 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.13 (the wedding was put on until January).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.