depend upon, depend on and dependent upon

Hi,

I am confused about the usages of the phrases 'dependent upon', 'depend on' and 'depend upon'.

For example, for the sentence below, which I found when I look up the phrase 'dependent upon' on the yahoo Korea website. I think the underlined part could use 'depend on' too.

The charity is totally dependent upon money from the public.

Hi Believer,

In American English, "on" and "upon" are used interchangeably.  I would say all of the following are correct, but vary in their level of formality -- 1 being the most formal; 4 being the most informal.

1. The charity is totally dependent upon money from the public.
   
2. The charity is totally dependent on money from the public
3. The charity totally depends upon money from the public.
   
4. The charity totally depends on money from the public.

Click here for James Kilpatrick's take on (or upon!) the matter.  He's a noted newspaper columnist who often writes about grammar, punctuation, etc.