To depend on (something/someone)

“To depend on (something/someone)”

EXAMPLE 1:

Eli: I’m almost finished packing my bags for our camping trip, Gina. But…should I bring a rain jacket? What do you think?

Gina: That’s a good question. I don’t know if it will rain or not. It just depends on the weather! It might be really sunny, but it might be cold and rainy! So maybe you should bring one just to be safe.

Eli: OK. Should I bring my fishing pole?

Gina: Hmm…that depends on where we stay. If we camp near a river or lake, you should bring one, but if we don’t stay near water, you won’t need one. I don’t know.

Eli: All right, I’ll bring my fishing pole anyway. Should I bring my teddy bear?

Gina: Eli, please shut up! I haven’t finished packing yet!

Meaning #1:

“to depend on (something)” usually means that the result of an action might be different because of unknown factors.

EXAMPLE 2:

A baby bird cannot fly yet, so it depends on its mother to bring food so it can eat.

Meaning #2:

“to depend on (someone)” usually means to rely on someone, but sometimes it has the same meaning as Meaning #1. It depends on the sentence!

This idiom is used in our Reading Transition book!

To Make Ends Meet

To Make Ends Meet

John and Barb have been married for 42 years. John worked as an executive at a prestigious company for 30 years and retired in 2002. Barb was an attorney and retired in 1995. They both made a lot of money,  lived in a very nice house in Beverly Hills, and drove expensive cars. One day they decided to go to Las Vegas and gamble. Since they were retired, they started going there every weekend. They could not stop gambling. That became their hobby. Their hobby became an addiction. John and Barb sold their house and moved to Vegas. They lost all their money in Vegas. Now, John and Barb work at a hot-dog stand in front of a casino. They now have to save every dollar they have in order to pay for the rental of their trailer. They used to be millionaires and now they have to work really hard to make ends meet. Sometimes they are able to pay the bills, sometimes they have to ask their kids for money. Their family decided not to help them anymore because their addiction is out of control.

To make ends meet means to only have enough money to pay your basic bills. This means, the person does not have any extra money after paying his/her bills.

This idiom is used in our LSI Reading Horizons book. For more information, please visit http://www.languagesystems.com/