Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse people. I have found the following to be among them:
CONTINGENCY/ CONTINGENT
Most often we think of contingent as an adjective meaning dependent on something else as is often seen in real estate contracts when the payment for the property to be purchased is contingent on the buyer’s getting a mortgage or some other probable but uncertain event. The noun that names such a dependency is contingency.
CORRECT: I will accept the job contingent upon the company’s paying my relocation expenses. Without that contingency, I’ll have to decline the offer.
The problem arises when one erroneously uses the word contingency to mean a delegation or group of representatives, which is a definition of contingent when it is used as a noun.
INCORRECT: Our local chapter sent a contingency to the state convention this year.
CORRECT: Our local chapter sent a contingent to the state convention this year.
REMEMBER: Contingent contains the word gent (short for gentleman) and, when used as a noun, indicates a group of people.
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